The EPA Can Save Animals From Deadly Tests—Add Your Voice!

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The Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) move toward non-animal chemical testing is under threat. With one click, you can encourage the agency to continue making progress for animals in laboratories. Read on to find out how.

In recent years, significant investment has been directed toward modernizing chemical testing, because the traditional system of relying on decades-old tests on rats, mice, rabbits, and other animals is widely recognized as being flawed and is failing to keep up with scientific progress. Moreover, while unsafe chemicals put us all at risk, mounting evidence demonstrates that certain populations, such as fenceline communities, farmworkers, pregnant people, and children have been disproportionately affected by exposure to them.

Relying on animal testing has failed to keep unsafe chemicals off the market. Most regulatory animal tests in use today were developed decades ago and were never evaluated for their reliability or relevance to humans. Data generated from decades of animal tests have been analyzed and shown to be inconsistent as well as lacking in human relevance.

The best way to protect human health and the environment is to use the best science.

Unlike tests on animals, non-animal methods are stringently examined to ensure that they produce consistent data relevant to humans. These methods allow government agencies like the EPA to better understand the effects that chemicals may have on humans and to make faster, more informed decisions that protect us all.

Don’t let misinformation undermine scientific progress.

As with any change, there are those who resist, even in the face of facts showing the benefits of progress. Recently, a letter was sent to the EPA’s administrator asking him to ignore science and promote the value of testing on animals. To do so would undermine the protection of our communities and cause immense animal suffering. The bottom line is that tests on animals can’t reliably capture the extent to which human populations will be affected by exposure to chemicals.

Here’s What You Can Do if You’re a U.S. Resident

Please add your name to a letter that PETA scientists will share with EPA Administrator Michael Regan showing your support for using reliable and relevant non-animal methods of testing chemicals.

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Sign Our Letter!

We, the undersigned, are writing to you in response to a letter you received on March 15, 2023, from a group of NGOs requesting that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) renounce its objective to prioritize good science while reducing tests on animals. That letter’s request stands in stark opposition to overwhelming public and scientific support for the EPA’s efforts to move away from animal tests. We support the replacement of animals in testing, not only to prevent animal suffering but also because many tests on animals lack reproducibility and relevance to humans and therefore impede regulatory efforts to better protect us and our environment.

We are concerned that exposure to unsafe chemicals is heavily affecting susceptible and vulnerable populations, including pregnant people, communities of color, farmworkers, and children. The animal tests used to make decisions about chemical safety have significant flaws. We want to see our tax dollars put toward a more protective regulatory system, with continued development and implementation of non-animal methods that reliably provide regulators with the information they need.

In 2021, the EPA released a New Approach Methodologies Work Plan to coordinate its efforts to advance non-animal approaches with “the potential to increase the rigor and sophistication of Agency assessments.” The plan highlights the importance of evaluating and applying emerging technology to keep the agency at the forefront of science and poised to best evaluate risks to human health and the environment. We fully support the EPA’s continued advancement of the scientific objectives detailed in it.

Robust non-animal approaches generate reliable information that is relevant to humans. They also allow for more rapid assessment of chemicals, enabling faster removal of dangerous ones from the market and preventing others from ever reaching the market in the future. In this way, non-animal approaches support the administration’s aim to advance environmental justice by protecting susceptible and vulnerable populations most at risk of exposure.

We thank you for your attention to this important issue and for the EPA’s continued work to develop and implement non-animal test methods.

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