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Australia Could Lead the World in Animal Testing Alternatives

A parliamentary committee in New South Wales has recommended “rapidly phasing out” two experiments that are performed on mice for medical research.

In a report from the parliament in New South Wales, the committee said, “There is an opportunity for NSW, as a significant participant in medical research, to be at the forefront of developing alternatives to the use of animals,” the report said.

Biomedical start-up Codex Research is working with cardiovascular researcher Steven Wise and the University of Sydney’s Charles Perkins Centre to develop a machine to replace animal testing. Ed Brackenreg, Codex Research’s founder is setting an ambitious target to create alternatives to animal testing and get Australia to finally shift away from the cruel practice.

“Our goal is to achieve a future one day, at some point, where no one will bother with any animal experiments anymore,” Brackenreg told ABC AU.

Technology is becoming more and more advanced as things like “blood-vessel-in-a-box” or ‘organ-on-a-chip’ devices are being developed to replace animal testing. Emulate, a biotech firm is one of the companies trying to take the industry by storm. They are creating technology that mimics what happens inside the body with nutrients, air, and blood pumped through the small channels of an “organ on a chip.” This chip is about the size of a flash drive. There are lines carved and implanted with different live human cells, including lung cells, brain cells, and liver cells.

Source: TED/YouTube

According to research from Nova One Advisor, the global market for three-dimensional cell cultures like the ones that Codex Research and Emulate are developing is expected to pass $10 billion by 2030.

Animal testing is an extremely outdated practice that causes so many unnecessary animal deaths and suffering. It is not ethical, and it is not that effective. Drugs that move past the stage of animal testing fail in more an 90 percent of human clinical trials. However, companies all over are creating alternatives to animal testing that could end animal testing for good.

Numerous companies are standing up against animal testing, and recently the USDA decided to eliminate some mammalian testing by 2025. The majority of animal testing is used in medicine and for other human products and treatments. According to PETA, the National Institutes of Health wastes $12 billion annually on animal testing that leads nowhere; these experiments on animals fail 90% of the time! The research used on animals rarely correlates when it is tested on humans, making it a waste of money and unnecessary. Monkeys, mice, rats, and dogs are all used in animal experiments around the nation. It’s time countries ban animal experimentation altogether as it hurts humans as well.