TOXICITY.inc—End Animal Toxicity Testing

What is Toxicity Testing?

Outdated Science

Misleading safety and efficacy results from animal tests are the driving force behind 90% of new medicines failing in human trials. Despite obvious differences in physiology, biochemistry and genetic expression, animals continue to be subjected to toxicity testing. Modern, human-relevant science can better predict human outcomes.

Animal Suffering

Toxicity testing is the government-mandated exposure of animals to test substances to determine the concentration at which harm, illness or death occurs. Animals are restrained and repeatedly made to inhale, ingest or endure contact with test substances—often at excessively high doses—for drug, pesticide and other product approval.

Human Suffering

Technicians are required to perform distressing tests on animals as part of regulatory approval processes. The untenable moral conflict they face in having to inflict suffering, called the ‘caring/killing’ paradox, can lead to PTSD, secondary trauma, moral injury and depression.

“We all cared about the animals. They looked to us in hope and yet we had to harm them.”

Former Lab Worker

Beagles are chosen for animal research because of their placid nature. Even when they are subjected to harmful tests, they continue to seek the affection of their caretakers. They are usually killed at the end of the experiments.

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Forcing dogs to inhale and ingest chemicals

The friendly, gentle and trusting nature that makes beagles such cherished companion animals is also among the reasons they have been so widely used in laboratory testing.

They suffer for science that rarely works.

Primates are intelligent, socially complex animals who experience fear and distress deeply. Yet their biology differs profoundly from ours, meaning experiments on them often fail to predict how humans will respond.

Primates locked in a cycle of suffering

Confined to cages and repeatedly restrained for invasive procedures, primates suffer daily distress and harm until they are killed when testing ends.

Traditional practices should not limit scientific progress.

Animal experimentation began centuries ago, in an era when animals were not considered sentient beings. Today, we know that they share with us the capacity to experience pain, distress, fear and joy. Each species is unique—including humans—in how they react to chemicals and other substances. Moving to modern, human-relevant technologies will provide better outcomes for both humans and other animals.

Rabbits—immobilised and distressed

The size and defencelessness of rabbits make them particularly vulnerable to harmful procedures and restraint apparatus.

Day after day, they know only suffering.

Some substances are tested on not one, but two species, often involving great numbers of animals. Their suffering is an unavoidable part of the testing system. Pain relief is normally withheld because it might interfere with the data.

Exposing pigs to test substances

Despite being one of the most intelligent and sensitive of species, mini-pigs are being increasingly subjected to invasive and distressing procedures in toxicity testing.

Frightened, confused, and subjected to daily dosing.

Test substances are given to animals at varying dose levels. Animals may receive doses substantially above anticipated human exposure levels—in some cases up to 100 times higher— to determine at what concentration the substance can cause harm or death.

Prolonged and painful procedures

Rats are highly intelligent and social rodents, known for their empathy. They are one of the most commonly used species in toxicity testing.

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They can’t choose. They can’t refuse. But we can.

The US Connection

A pivotal moment for the US—and for animals

New footage from two US-owned labs, located in the UK, provides the most extensive insight ever released into the animal impact of toxicity testing. These are not isolated cases, they are standard toxicity testing practices. Each year, millions of animals are used in toxicity tests connected to products sold in the US, including pharmaceutical drugs, industrial chemicals, pesticides, and others. Some of this testing happens inside the US, and some is carried out overseas by or for corporations that do business in the US. These practices persist despite growing scientific recognition that animal models consistently fail to predict human outcomes. They are outdated, unreliable, and cause immense suffering. While the US government has committed to transition away from animal testing and towards modern, human-relevant science, the severe suffering shown in this footage demands far more urgent action. Please us the form below to send a message to US Food and Drug Administration Commissioner, Marty Makary, thanking him for his roadmap to end toxicity testing on animals—and urging him to accelerate the transition to modern, human-relevant science. We have the technology. We have the science. Let’s end toxicity testing on animals now.

Support Animal-free Science

Science and innovation are advancing at a remarkable pace; effective and humane alternatives to animal testing—like organoids and organ-on-a-chip—already exist.

Instead of continuing to subject animals to toxicity tests, modern, non-animal methods can increasingly generate more relevant data on the safety of substances, providing better protections for humans, animals and our environment. Please send an urgent message to {{target_name}} calling on the FDA to urgently replace animal-based toxicity testing requirements with human relevant technologies.

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