EPA Considers Non-Animal Testing
31 July 2009
by Anai Rhoads
AnaiRhoads.org -- The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has made a positive step forward this week, helping lessen the use of animals in superfluous experiments.
A new promising pilot programme, spearheaded by the agency, may help companies re-evaluate antiquated animal laboratory testing, such as the Draize rabbit eye test. The EPA believes that non-animal methods should be considered as valid alternatives.
The Institute for In Vitro Science (IIVS) collaborated with the EPA to initiate the programme. Other contributors, albeit indirect, included the Procter & Gamble Company, Clorox, Colgate Palmolive, the Dial Corporation, Ecolab, Johnson Diversey, Inc. and S.C. Johnson & Son, Inc. The corporations helped by providing key animal-testing data to IIVS, which was compiled from over 300 representative cleaning products. All of the products listed had been involved in extensive and painful testing on live animals.
"The acceptance of non-animal data by the EPA under this pilot programme is a tremendous step forward in accelerating the application of scientifically sound alternative methods" said Dr Rodger Curren, President of IIVS. "IIVS was proud to contribute our experience and scientific expertise to both generate and analyse these complex data sets. We deeply appreciate the credence the EPA's leadership gives to in vitro methods and hope that this will lead to EPA guidelines that will more permanently cover this type of approach."
While the EPA is attempting to divert testing methods away from live animals, the agency will still use deceased and slaughtered animals to complete their data. The estimated 18-month EPA project will encompass three vitro assays:
The Bovine Corneal Opacity and Permeability test - involves using eyes from cows who were slaughtered for food.
The EpiOcular(TM) model - is produced by MatTek Corp., Ashland MA. It involves the use of an in vitro model of the human corneal epithelium.
The Cytosensor Microphysiometer assay - is the electronic measurement of the metabolic rate of cell populations to evaluate potential cell toxicity.
Every day, thousands of animals are experimented on in medical schools and universities across the country, along with countless corporations, pharmaceuticals and other commercial facilities.
Many hapless animals are tested in behavioural studies, but most are used in genetics, developmental biology, toxicological and drug testing. Despite the vast differences between human-animals and other mammals, xenotransplantation is also still being employed, where the scientist transplants tissues/organs from one species to another.
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