USA’s Environmental Protection Agency plan helps push forward humane and human-relevant science
Last year we applauded the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)’s announcement that the agency would prioritize efforts to reduce animal tests with the goal of eliminating toxicity tests on mammals by 2035.
This week the EPA released a plan to achieve this goal. The New Approach Methods (NAMs) Work Plan, describes how the Agency will develop, test, and apply chemical safety testing without using animals.
The release of the plan coincides with the 4th anniversary of the Frank. R. Lautenberg Amendments to the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), signed by President Obama, which required that the EPA take steps to reduce animal testing.
For ethical, scientific, and economic reasons, animal tests are being replaced by “new approach methods” (NAMS). NAMS focus on human biology and use advanced cell-based and computational technologies to investigate disease and potential treatments. These new methods promise to deliver safer chemicals more quickly and at less cost.
Unfortunately, NAMS have historically been woefully underfunded and often underutilized. For the past two years, EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler has been working to change this. Last year, he announced $4,250,000 in funding for universities to research and develop alternative test methods that “reduce, refine, and/or replace” vertebrate animal testing, and directed the agency to eliminate all mammal study requests and funding by 2035.
Monica Engebretson, our Head of Public Affairs for North America, said: “The EPA’s new plan will help save animals from being used in outdated and unreliable tests. We are confident it will help position the US as global leader in science innovation and new technologies that can deliver safer products and positively impact human health, the environment and the economy.”
The EPA’s work plan will continue to evolve over time with input from stakeholders and other experts. We will continue to monitor and engage with the EPA wherever possible to help the Agency meet its goal to completely phase out testing on mammals by 2035.