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Senate Unanimously Passes FDA Modernization Act to End Animal Drug Tests

Last week the Senate unanimously voted to pass the bipartisan FDA Modernization Act to end animal testing mandates. The bipartisan legislation authored by Senators Cory Booker (D-NJ) and Rand Paul (R-KY) will end an extremely outdated FDA mandate that required experimental drugs to be tested on animals before they could be used on humans in clinical trials.

Source: National Anti-Vivisection Society (NAVS)/YouTube

“The passage of my bill will avoid the needless suffering of countless animals, now that experimental drug testing can be done with modern non-animal alternatives that are more scientifically relevant,” said Senator Booker. “This legislation brings us one step closer to eliminating the cruel practice of unnecessary animal testing.”

Back in 1938, Congress passed the U.S. Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, which mandated animal toxicity testing. It has now been 83 years since this was passed, and science has improved significantly. Data has shown that in some products, animal testing is a highly inconsistent predictor of toxic responses in humans. Animal testing on any single pharmaceutical product often required the murder of hundreds of sentient animal test subjects. Thankfully, there are now many non-animal tests that can be sued as a more accurate way to measure human response to a drug.

The FDA Modernization Act will give drug sponsors the option to use other scientifically proven non-animal test methods when appropriate. Dr. Rand Paul and Senator Cory Booker first introduced the FDA Modernization Act last October. Now the FDA Modernization Act 2.0 will head to the U.S. House of Representatives.

“The FDA Modernization Act 2.0 will accelerate innovation and get safer, more effective drugs to market more quickly by cutting red tape that is not supported by current science, and I’m proud to have led the charge,” said Senator Rand Paul. “The passage of this bipartisan bill is a step toward ending the needless suffering and death of animal test subjects – which I’m glad both Republicans and Democrats can agree needs to end.”

Animals in laboratories experience horrific suffering and death. On top of that, the animals come from breeding facilities where they often aren’t given proper veterinary care, food, or water, and live in terrible and cramped conditions. The passage of this bill will be a huge step forward for non-human animals and society as a whole.

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 percent 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.