Wayne Pacelle: A Humane Nation | The Humane Society of the United States

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Wayne Pacelle: A Humane Nation | The Humane Society of the United States

Safety Testing 2.0

Posted: 19 Dec 2008 02:01 PM CST

Last year, the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) gave lift to the quest to

end the use of animals in testing for the potential human health hazards of

chemicals, drugs, and consumer products. In its report, “Toxicity Testing in

the 21st Century, A Vision and a Strategy,†the NAS laid out a long-term

proposal for shifting largely, if not entirely, to non-animal testing methods.

The new approach, based on the deliberations of an expert committee (including

HSUS staff member Martin Stephens, Ph.D.), relies on modern advances in biology

and technology and emphasizes human—rather than animal—biology. Some experts

believe the proposed research and development could be completed within a

decade, though funding from Congress and industry will be needed to advance this

objective.

Yesterday The HSUS and the Procter & Gamble Company, our partner in pursuing

alternative testing methods, honored several scientists associated with the

paradigm shift championed by the NAS. We bestowed two North American

Alternatives Awards of $25,000 each, funded by Procter & Gamble, for outstanding

scientific contributions to the advancement of alternatives to animal testing.

Award recipient Melvin Andersen, Ph.D., of the Hamner Institute in Research

Triangle Park, N.C., was a key author of the 2007 NAS report. He’s a tireless

promoter of its vision and a researcher with promising ideas on translating that

vision into reality.

The other award will support the federal government’s fledgling “Tox21â€

program, which carries out automated, robotic, high-volume testing of chemicals.

Under the leadership of Christopher Austin, M.D., of the National Human Genome

Research Institute, Robert Kavlock, Ph.D., of the Environmental Protection

Agency, and Raymond Tice, Ph.D., of the National Toxicology Program, Tox21 will

be used to develop toxicity “signatures†for chemicals, information likely

to substitute for animal testing in the future.

The issue at hand has come a long way since animals first began to be used in

routine testing decades ago. Such testing was one of the early targets of the

emerging animal protection movement in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Largely

as a result of such advocacy, toxicity testing emerged as the primary field for

applying the “Three Rs†of replacing, reducing, and refining the use of

animals.

The drive for alternatives to animal testing made slow progress during the

1980s and early 1990s but, in the last 15 years, it appears that animal use in

toxicity testing has started to fall in a meaningful way. In Great Britain,

which has reasonably accurate laboratory animal use numbers, the number of

animals used in toxicity testing has fallen 75 percent since 1995. In recent

years, advocacy efforts have mostly switched to engagement, as The HSUS and

other animal protection organizations seek to end animal testing altogether by

working with progressive corporations, regulatory agencies, alternatives

centers, and intergovernmental standards-setting organizations.

We are proud to partner with Procter & Gamble for the third consecutive year

in bestowing the North American Alternatives Awards. It is a symbol of our

common commitment to eliminate animal testing for consumer product safety, while

ensuring that marketed products are safe for consumers and the environment.

Procter & Gamble has been criticized for its animal testing over the years, but

when companies step up and contribute to the solution, they need to be

recognized and animal advocacy groups should be prepared to acknowledge that

work and shift. We are a movement that must embrace change, and not have a

static view about individuals or institutions.

We congratulate Anderson, Austin, Kavlock, and Tice for their stalwart

dedication to implementing the NAS’s long-term vision that will lead to a goal

we all share—ending animal testing.

Postscript: It was exciting to learn last night that President-elect Barack

Obama intends to appoint Jane Lubchenco, Ph.D., a distinguished marine

ecologist, as Under Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere and

Administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association. It’s a

critical position within the Department of Commerce, with major responsibility

for the health of oceans and ocean life, and for the enforcement of the Marine

Mammal Protection Act and the Endangered Species Act. Lubchenco, like the

Procter & Gamble honorees, exemplifies the creativity, innovation, and

engagement with the public interest that we so prize in the American scientific

community.

 

 

 

 

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