The Humane Society of the United States is actively working to put an end to animal testing. We are campaigning across the globe to promote greater reliance on proven non-animal testing methods and are actively working to implement a landmark vision of "21st century toxicology" that would use ultra-modern, efficient methods instead of animal tests that are decades-old, costly, slow and of dubious relevance to people.
This vision was articulated in July 2007 by an expert panel of the U.S. National Research Council (NRC), which included an HSUS representative as one of its key members. The cornerstone of the NRC vision is a "systems biology" approach to testing, which would combine robot-automated human cell and gene tests with sophisticated computer models to develop an understanding of how chemicals affect fundamental biological pathways in humans and can lead to adverse health effects.
Key advantages of the proposed new approach allow for the examination of a much greater number of chemicals, mixtures and health effects than can be tested on animals, and at more realistic exposure levels; a substantial reduction in testing costs, time and animal use; and the grounding of regulatory decisions on human biology rather than rodent biology.
In February 2008, the U.S. federal government took its first step toward implementing the NRC vision with the signing of a memorandum of understanding between the National Toxicology Program, the National Institutes of Health Chemical Genomics Center and the Environmental Protection Agency, outlining a strategy for inter-agency cooperation in "the research, development, validation, and translation of new and innovative test methods that characterize key steps in toxicity pathways."
The Humane Society applauds this initial collaboration and has taken steps to ensure its success, but recognizes that in order for the NRC vision to make a significant impact on regulatory toxicology in the foreseeable future, a much larger and internationally coordinated research effort will be needed. We are therefore calling on the United States and other world governments and corporations to commit to a "big biology" initiative—akin to the Human Genome Project of the 1990s—backed by at least $100 million in public and corporate funding per year for the next decade.
