Strategic Roadmap to Replace Animal Tests, Maybelline Cosmetics, Animal Testing Update, In Defense of Animals, Mississippi USDA Class B Dealers, The National Toxicology Program, China, Volkswagon, American Anti-Vivisection Society, Sustainable Action Network (SAN)
Roadmap to guide progress toward replacing animal use in toxicity testing.
The strategic roadmap from the Interagency Coordinating Committee on the Validation of Alternative Methods offers a new framework for the safety testing of drugs and chemicals.
Sixteen federal agencies partnered to develop a strategic roadmap that offers a new framework for the safety testing of drugs and chemicals, which aims to provide more human relevant toxicology data while reducing the use of animals. The roadmap was published Jan. 30 by the National Toxicology Program (NTP), a federal interagency program headquartered at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) in North Carolina. NIEHS is part of the National Institutes of Health.
The report, A Strategic Roadmap for Establishing New Approaches to Evaluate the Safety of Chemicals and Medical Products in the United States, was developed by the Interagency Coordinating Committee on the Validation of Alternative Methods (ICCVAM). ICCVAM facilitates the development of toxicological testing methods that replace, reduce, or refine the use of animals. The committee includes representatives from U.S. federal agencies that use, generate, or disseminate toxicological and safety testing information.
“This roadmap represents a coordinated effort by federal government agencies to proactively develop and adopt new approaches to toxicity testing, rather than having changes driven by external influences,” said Warren Casey, Ph.D., director of the NTP Interagency Center for the Evaluation of Alternative Toxicological Methods. “If actionable progress in this area is going to happen, the agencies need to take the lead, and that is exactly what they are doing with this roadmap.”
The roadmap was developed to guide the application of new technologies, such as high-throughput screening, tissue chips, and computational models, to toxicity testing of chemicals and medical products.
It describes three strategic goals required for progress.
Activities are underway to address the roadmap goals. Presentations at the September 2017 Scientific Advisory Committee on Alternative Toxicological Methods meeting described implementation of the roadmap for skin sensitization and acute systemic toxicity testing. Reviews of U.S. agency information requirements and decision contexts for these areas, as well as for skin and eye irritation, are being prepared for publication later this year.
To continue this process, ICCVAM is sponsoring a session (link is external) on the roadmap at the Society of Toxicology meeting in March, and several other scientific meetings in the spring.
About the National Toxicology Program (NTP): NTP is a federal, interagency program headquartered at NIEHS, whose goal is to safeguard the public by identifying substances in the environment that may affect human health. For more information about NTP and its programs, visit ntp.niehs.nih.gov.
About the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS): NIEHS supports research to understand the effects of the environment on human health and is part of NIH. For more information on environmental health topics, visit www.niehs.nih.gov. Subscribe to one or more of the NIEHS news lists to stay current on NIEHS news, press releases, grant opportunities, training, events, and publications.
About the National Institutes of Health (NIH): NIH, the nation's medical research agency, includes 27 Institutes and Centers and is a component of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. NIH is the primary federal agency conducting and supporting basic, clinical, and translational medical research, and is investigating the causes, treatments, and cures for both common and rare diseases. For more information about NIH and its programs, visit www.nih.gov.
A Strategic Roadmap for Establishing New Approaches to Evaluate the Safety of Chemicals and Medical Products in the United States
Demand Maybelline Cosmetics end its animal testing practices
For decades, Maybelline Cosmetics has been a popular household name. With good reason - their products are of good quality for a reasonable price... or are they? Are their products worth the price of integrity, ethics, and animal welfare?
Every dollar spent on their products or the product of any non-cruelty-free company supports the barbaric practice of animal testing.
Sign this petition now to tell Maybelline to stop animal testing. Let them know you have had enough of their unethical business practices, and that you will not spend another penny on their products until they go cruelty-free.
In Defense of Animals Celebrates 25 Years of Service to Mississippi Animals. In February, 1993, In Defense of Animals staff arrived in Mississippi to conduct an on the ground undercover investigation of two dealers reportedly selling stolen animals to laboratories. It took us six months, engaging regional and national media to take the Mississippi USDA Class B dealers down.
The USDA repeatedly dismissed the photos, videos, and other condemning evidence we presented to it. The government agency responsible for ensuring that animals destined for laboratories are legally acquired had already failed to address over 750 violations of the Animal Welfare Act that we discovered through Freedom of Information Act requests accrued by each of the men in their damnable operations.
The dealers bought dogs from “bunchers,” repulsive humans who respond to "free to good home" ads and steal dogs off the streets and from yards. They volunteered as animal control officers for communities that could not afford to pay an officer, thrusting helpless animals into a hell they would never return from. The investigation took us to auctions and trade and sell days, and we interviewed scores of grieving guardians who had cause to believe the fiends had stolen their beloved companion animals. A heartless Arkansas dealer they conspired with would later be convicted and his operation shut down, suffering the loss of his freedom, property, and finances.
During the six months in which it took us to outwit the dealers and the USDA, we were asked to aid with other cruelty cases. We made friends with fellow animal protectionists and began working with them and law enforcement agencies in counties across the state. We were in the right place at the right time and we were needed.
Astoundingly, within a few years we had closed vile puppy mills, freed animals from horrendous hoarding cases, and filed six hundred and eighty-three counts of cruelty against a Poplarville, Mississippi pet shop supplier on behalf of the dead and dying animals he had exploited. He was also convicted and his operation shut down.
It seemed that every road we turned down led to tragic suffering. There was a day-care center that couldn’t let its children into its yard because an cruel couple kept eighty-six lions, twenty-two stallions, a pack of dogs as well as various tigers, bears, a liger, a camel, and a puma, in the most incredibly perilous and cruel confinement.
Then there was the pet shop owner locking the door to her shop and driving away leaving every creature she helplessly confined to die of dehydration. She was aware of our services but didn’t call for help. She didn’t call the property owner, or even put a note on the door – “Free Animals”. Her speaking cockatoo priced at $1,800 lay decaying on the bottom of his cage as did all of the innocent creatures who had already survived the breeding facilities they came from.
Sadly, we were forced to close “animal shelters” operated by “humane societies” in which crowded and diseased animals died and killed one another.
There were no cases too small or too large. Because of the trust our donors and members had in us, we literally saved thousands of animals from emus, to pigs, to languishing big cats kept in horrid confinement is backyards. We freed hundreds of chickens from an egg farm that allowed our investigator to remove exhausted, broken-down hens. The hens had been left for preying raccoons, cats, and dogs to drag from their cages, and the floors of the hen houses where thousands of birds were crammed into filthy cages to lay their precious lives away. The greater percentage of the birds died of swollen head syndrome, a disease caused by living in filth with no treatment or cure. Others never made it out, stuck in the waste channels beneath their tiered cages.
A single animal or a multitude of animals, each individual suffered and each one deserved to be freed from the hell humans had put them into.
The great news is that we never left. Caring people all over Mississippi worked and continue to work with us for a cruelty free state. Don’t let the news of the horrors that surface in Mississippi tarnish the beauty this state does offer. From the people who report cruelty to the law enforcement officers and judges who meet out justice, Mississippi does sometimes stand against cruelty.
Today we continue to fight cruelty and save animals. We are actively work to change the laws that will protect animals across the Deep South. Legislators are often suspicious of legislation to protect animals, but we are forming and working with grass root groups and coalitions that are the heart of Mississippi. Our cases have already led to the passage of statues among which regulate the keeping of exotic and potentially dangerous animals, made the intentional harming of livestock a felony, and banned hog dog rodeos.
While fighting animal abuse, we established Hope Animal Sanctuary in Grenada Mississippi to save its victims. The sanctuary continues to give haven to animals we rescue, providing a safe place for their care, rehabilitation and placement in loving forever homes. After 25 years of service to thousands of animals, we are rebuilding the crumbling sanctuary and our emerging facilities will serve Mississippi’s neediest animals for many years to come.
In 2015, we established our Justice for Animals Campaign to focus on joining with our fellow Mississippians to provide the resources and knowledge to aid law enforcement with the reports they respond to for ill treated animals. We work with prosecuting attorneys, judges, veterinarians, fellow humane representatives, and the public for the passage of humane ordinances and statutes and to see abusers charged, convicted, and sentenced for their indefensible treatment of the animals.
We are a force for change and you can help us by acting now to join this and other life-saving In Defense of Animals campaigns. Please support our efforts and engage with us in righting the wrongs committed against our fellow species.
Having no voice, animals need and deserve protection from the industries that use and exploit them, and it's the job of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to protect their welfare. The Animal Welfare Act (AWA) requires USDA to inspect animal dealers, breeders, exhibitions, and laboratories to help assure that animals are provided minimal standards of care and treatment. Despite the law, however, USDA has indicated a willingness to skirt on its responsibility to protect animal welfare by adopting a system that would permit third parties to perform inspections, which could be used to reduce oversight by the USDA.
Such a move would compromise animal welfare and that is unacceptable!
There are serious concerns surrounding third-party inspections, such as conflicts of interest if industry groups become empowered to help their fee-paying members avoid USDA inspections. Industry group information forms and site visits are confidential, so the public won't have access to information that is currently available through USDA, reducing transparency and public accountability. It's also important to note that when an animal at a dealer, breeder, zoo, or laboratory facility is the victim of abuse and neglect, it is often not discovered until USDA does an inspection.
While not ideal, current regulations concerning animal welfare are better than USDA's third-party inspection proposal. Please tell USDA to do its job and ditch third-party inspections.
Sixteen federal agencies partnered to develop a strategic roadmap that offers a new framework for the safety testing of drugs and chemicals, which aims to provide more human relevant toxicology data while reducing the use of animals. The roadmap was published Jan. 30 by the National Toxicology Program (NTP), a federal interagency program headquartered at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) in North Carolina. NIEHS is part of the National Institutes of Health.
The report, A Strategic Roadmap for Establishing New Approaches to Evaluate the Safety of Chemicals and Medical Products in the United States, was developed by the Interagency Coordinating Committee on the Validation of Alternative Methods (ICCVAM). ICCVAM facilitates the development of toxicological testing methods that replace, reduce, or refine the use of animals. The committee includes representatives from U.S. federal agencies that use, generate, or disseminate toxicological and safety testing information.
“This roadmap represents a coordinated effort by federal government agencies to proactively develop and adopt new approaches to toxicity testing, rather than having changes driven by external influences,” said Warren Casey, Ph.D., director of the NTP Interagency Center for the Evaluation of Alternative Toxicological Methods. “If actionable progress in this area is going to happen, the agencies need to take the lead, and that is exactly what they are doing with this roadmap.”
The roadmap was developed to guide the application of new technologies, such as high-throughput screening, tissue chips, and computational models, to toxicity testing of chemicals and medical products.
It describes three strategic goals required for progress.
- Connecting new test method developers with end users.
- Promoting flexible approaches for establishing confidence in new methods.
- Encourage the adoption of new methods by federal agencies and regulated industries once validated.
Activities are underway to address the roadmap goals. Presentations at the September 2017 Scientific Advisory Committee on Alternative Toxicological Methods meeting described implementation of the roadmap for skin sensitization and acute systemic toxicity testing. Reviews of U.S. agency information requirements and decision contexts for these areas, as well as for skin and eye irritation, are being prepared for publication later this year.
To continue this process, ICCVAM is sponsoring a session (link is external) on the roadmap at the Society of Toxicology meeting in March, and several other scientific meetings in the spring.
About the National Toxicology Program (NTP): NTP is a federal, interagency program headquartered at NIEHS, whose goal is to safeguard the public by identifying substances in the environment that may affect human health. For more information about NTP and its programs, visit ntp.niehs.nih.gov.
About the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS): NIEHS supports research to understand the effects of the environment on human health and is part of NIH. For more information on environmental health topics, visit www.niehs.nih.gov. Subscribe to one or more of the NIEHS news lists to stay current on NIEHS news, press releases, grant opportunities, training, events, and publications.
About the National Institutes of Health (NIH): NIH, the nation's medical research agency, includes 27 Institutes and Centers and is a component of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. NIH is the primary federal agency conducting and supporting basic, clinical, and translational medical research, and is investigating the causes, treatments, and cures for both common and rare diseases. For more information about NIH and its programs, visit www.nih.gov.
A Strategic Roadmap for Establishing New Approaches to Evaluate the Safety of Chemicals and Medical Products in the United States
For decades, Maybelline Cosmetics has been a popular household name. With good reason - their products are of good quality for a reasonable price... or are they? Are their products worth the price of integrity, ethics, and animal welfare?
Every dollar spent on their products or the product of any non-cruelty-free company supports the barbaric practice of animal testing.
Sign this petition now to tell Maybelline to stop animal testing. Let them know you have had enough of their unethical business practices, and that you will not spend another penny on their products until they go cruelty-free.
The USDA repeatedly dismissed the photos, videos, and other condemning evidence we presented to it. The government agency responsible for ensuring that animals destined for laboratories are legally acquired had already failed to address over 750 violations of the Animal Welfare Act that we discovered through Freedom of Information Act requests accrued by each of the men in their damnable operations.
The dealers bought dogs from “bunchers,” repulsive humans who respond to "free to good home" ads and steal dogs off the streets and from yards. They volunteered as animal control officers for communities that could not afford to pay an officer, thrusting helpless animals into a hell they would never return from. The investigation took us to auctions and trade and sell days, and we interviewed scores of grieving guardians who had cause to believe the fiends had stolen their beloved companion animals. A heartless Arkansas dealer they conspired with would later be convicted and his operation shut down, suffering the loss of his freedom, property, and finances.
During the six months in which it took us to outwit the dealers and the USDA, we were asked to aid with other cruelty cases. We made friends with fellow animal protectionists and began working with them and law enforcement agencies in counties across the state. We were in the right place at the right time and we were needed.
Astoundingly, within a few years we had closed vile puppy mills, freed animals from horrendous hoarding cases, and filed six hundred and eighty-three counts of cruelty against a Poplarville, Mississippi pet shop supplier on behalf of the dead and dying animals he had exploited. He was also convicted and his operation shut down.
It seemed that every road we turned down led to tragic suffering. There was a day-care center that couldn’t let its children into its yard because an cruel couple kept eighty-six lions, twenty-two stallions, a pack of dogs as well as various tigers, bears, a liger, a camel, and a puma, in the most incredibly perilous and cruel confinement.
Then there was the pet shop owner locking the door to her shop and driving away leaving every creature she helplessly confined to die of dehydration. She was aware of our services but didn’t call for help. She didn’t call the property owner, or even put a note on the door – “Free Animals”. Her speaking cockatoo priced at $1,800 lay decaying on the bottom of his cage as did all of the innocent creatures who had already survived the breeding facilities they came from.
Sadly, we were forced to close “animal shelters” operated by “humane societies” in which crowded and diseased animals died and killed one another.
There were no cases too small or too large. Because of the trust our donors and members had in us, we literally saved thousands of animals from emus, to pigs, to languishing big cats kept in horrid confinement is backyards. We freed hundreds of chickens from an egg farm that allowed our investigator to remove exhausted, broken-down hens. The hens had been left for preying raccoons, cats, and dogs to drag from their cages, and the floors of the hen houses where thousands of birds were crammed into filthy cages to lay their precious lives away. The greater percentage of the birds died of swollen head syndrome, a disease caused by living in filth with no treatment or cure. Others never made it out, stuck in the waste channels beneath their tiered cages.
A single animal or a multitude of animals, each individual suffered and each one deserved to be freed from the hell humans had put them into.
The great news is that we never left. Caring people all over Mississippi worked and continue to work with us for a cruelty free state. Don’t let the news of the horrors that surface in Mississippi tarnish the beauty this state does offer. From the people who report cruelty to the law enforcement officers and judges who meet out justice, Mississippi does sometimes stand against cruelty.
Today we continue to fight cruelty and save animals. We are actively work to change the laws that will protect animals across the Deep South. Legislators are often suspicious of legislation to protect animals, but we are forming and working with grass root groups and coalitions that are the heart of Mississippi. Our cases have already led to the passage of statues among which regulate the keeping of exotic and potentially dangerous animals, made the intentional harming of livestock a felony, and banned hog dog rodeos.
While fighting animal abuse, we established Hope Animal Sanctuary in Grenada Mississippi to save its victims. The sanctuary continues to give haven to animals we rescue, providing a safe place for their care, rehabilitation and placement in loving forever homes. After 25 years of service to thousands of animals, we are rebuilding the crumbling sanctuary and our emerging facilities will serve Mississippi’s neediest animals for many years to come.
In 2015, we established our Justice for Animals Campaign to focus on joining with our fellow Mississippians to provide the resources and knowledge to aid law enforcement with the reports they respond to for ill treated animals. We work with prosecuting attorneys, judges, veterinarians, fellow humane representatives, and the public for the passage of humane ordinances and statutes and to see abusers charged, convicted, and sentenced for their indefensible treatment of the animals.
We are a force for change and you can help us by acting now to join this and other life-saving In Defense of Animals campaigns. Please support our efforts and engage with us in righting the wrongs committed against our fellow species.
Such a move would compromise animal welfare and that is unacceptable!
There are serious concerns surrounding third-party inspections, such as conflicts of interest if industry groups become empowered to help their fee-paying members avoid USDA inspections. Industry group information forms and site visits are confidential, so the public won't have access to information that is currently available through USDA, reducing transparency and public accountability. It's also important to note that when an animal at a dealer, breeder, zoo, or laboratory facility is the victim of abuse and neglect, it is often not discovered until USDA does an inspection.
While not ideal, current regulations concerning animal welfare are better than USDA's third-party inspection proposal. Please tell USDA to do its job and ditch third-party inspections.
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While animal
testing on cosmetics still occurs in China, the government has shown a
willingness to accept non-animal safety testing methods. China's pace to change
has been slow, with obstacles, in large part, being a matter of practicality.
For example, obtaining reliable alternatives can be difficult and training
scientists to use alternatives takes time and resources. Nonetheless, there is
reason to be optimistic. READ MORE »
| ||
Earlier
this month, AAVS President Sue Leary talked to The Dodo about animal experiments
commissioned by Volkswagen, done in an attempt to refute the cancer risk
associated with diesel fumes. Ten monkeys were kept in airtight containers for
four hours, forced to breath diesel fumes while they watched cartoons. The tests
were conducted by the Lovelace Respiratory Research Institute, which as Sue
explains, has long history of violating the Animal Welfare Act. READ MORE »
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