Animal Testing Phased Out Faster Under Government Plans

Mary Creagh MP is delighted that the Government has accelerated plans to replace animal testing with alternative methods in a strategy welcomed as ‘ambitious’ and ‘timely’ by animal welfare and life sciences organisations.

Scientific animal testing is set to be phased out faster under a new plan to deliver another Labour manifesto commitment. £75 million of new funding will help bring forward cutting edge testing methods to replace current tests on animals, and make regulations clearer for scientists.

A new comprehensive roadmap backs researchers to seize on new and developing opportunities to replace certain animal tests. Currently, such tests are only used when strictly necessary, to determine the safety of products like life-saving vaccines, or the impact chemicals like pesticides can have on living beings and the environment. The roadmap balances animal welfare with human safety, ensuring that the replacement of current regulations never creates a risk to human wellbeing.

The roadmap highlights the use of new methods for testing, such as organ-on-a-chip systems, 3D bio-printed tissue, and molecular AI in the coming years. It is one of the most detailed of its kind in the world, and opens up new opportunities for the UK to be a leader on the world stage of animal test reform.

For more information, and testimony from animal testing researchers, click here.