PETA scientists’ roadmap to animal-free research gets COVID-era update

New edition of ‘Research Modernization Deal’ offers solutions to animal experiment failures

Reports and Proceedings

PEOPLE FOR THE ETHICAL TREATMENT OF ANIMALS (PETA)

Washington — PETA scientists have just released a new edition of the groundbreaking Research Modernization Deal (RMD), the world’s first comprehensive plan for phasing out the use of animals in experimentation. The update is packed with new, cutting-edge information and reflects the latest scientific developments and regulatory changes since the RMD was first introduced in 2018.

 

The RMD provides detailed information about the pressing need to transition toward human-relevant research, and this new edition outlines non-animal methods for studying COVID-19. It also adds tools and recent studies to persuade government agencies to fund more modern, animal-free research and calls for an increased focus on education and training.

 

Hands-on training for early-career researchers is essential, as are mandatory courses on new approaches, to helping scientists expand their understanding of emerging technology in their fields.

 

“Experiments on animals are failing, but the capabilities of cutting-edge, animal-free research methods outlined by PETA scientists are increasing every day,” says PETA neuroscientist Dr. Emily Trunnell. “With the extra training tools laid out in this year’s RMD, researchers will be more prepared to innovate and save lives.”

 

The RMD presents the U.S. government’s own evidence that 95% of all new medications that test safe and effective in animal tests fail in human clinical trials. Failure rates are even higher in specific disease research areas, including Alzheimer’s disease (96.6%), cancer (96.6%), HIV/AIDS vaccines (100%), and strokes (100%). Studies show that 90% of basic research, most of which involves animals, fails to lead to treatments for humans—yet the National Institutes of Health spends nearly half its annual budget on animal studies.

 

The new RMD also highlights recent major legislative victories, such as the FDA Modernization Act 2.0’s promise to open the door to non-animal methods for testing drugs and the European Parliament’s near-unanimous support for an action plan to phase out animal experiments.

 

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to experiment on”—opposes speciesism, a human-supremacist worldview. For more information on PETA’s investigative newsgathering and reporting, please visit PETA.org, listen to The PETA Podcast, or follow the group on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram.