PETA Challenges Universities to Make Good on Phase Out of Animal Experiments

For decades, universities have touted their commitment to “replacing, reducing, and refining” the use of animals in experiments, something known as the 3Rs principle.

PETA challenges universities far and wide: Prove it because there seems to be no evidence that it is real.

We’re demanding they share their plan.

Taxpayers support public universities with hundreds of millions of dollars each year in federal funding for experiments on animals. We have the right to know if these schools have been truthful about their 3Rs pledge or if that promise is false.

The 3Rs refer to reducing animal use, replacing animals with animal-free methods, and refining experiments on animals so they are less cruel. The framework was first published in 1959 and was enthusiastically embraced by animal experimenters worldwide, at least in theory.

But it looks like universities are using their supposed commitment to the 3Rs as an excuse to keep harming and killing monkeys, dogs, cats, rats, mice, and others in their laboratories. Here are just a few examples:

• At the University of Michigan, pigs had heated rods pressed against their skin to inflict severe burns. The animals were forced to suffer for three weeks before being killed. According to government reports, the university recently used more than 94,000 mice, rats, fishes, and amphibians in experiments and dozens of cats, rabbits, guinea pigs, hamsters, and monkeys.
• At the University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center, 3-day-old mouse pups were exposed to alcohol vapors for four hours a day, supposedly to study the effects of alcohol exposure on brain development. According to government reports, the university recently used more than 9,000 mice and rats as well as dozens of hamsters and rabbits in experiments.
• At the University of California-Davis, experimenters at its primate research center inflicted spinal cord injuries on rhesus macaques, forcibly separated baby monkeys from their mothers, and played audio recordings mimicking baby monkeys’ cries for help to their caged fathers. According to government reports, in 2023 the university used more than 292,665 mice, rats, fishes, birds, amphibians, and reptiles, along with thousands of monkeys, dogs, cats, and other animals in experiments.

Some universities, including the University of Pittsburgh, are increasing the number of animals used in pointless experiments.

Experiments on animals are bad science and have no place at institutions of higher learning. Studies show that 90% of basic research, most of which involves animals, fails to lead to treatments for humans, while 95% of new drugs that test safe and effective in animals later fail in humans.

Urge Universities to PROVE IT!

Please TAKE ACTION today and encourage universities to prove their commitment to the 3Rs principle and move toward compassionate and effective non-animal research.

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