AAVS News
October 31, 2024
Tell FDA no animal testing; biodiversity; alternatives; whom do chimps prefer?
Thousands of mice, rats, and other animals are in danger of needless suffering if companies are required to test sunscreen ingredients on animals. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is considering new requirements that will likely include animal tests. Neither compassionate consumers nor cruelty-free companies want this change in regulation.
Tell the FDA that animal tests are not needed to show sunscreen ingredients are safe!
In recent years, the FDA has given the development and use of non-animal methods more attention, which is good. This is the perfect opportunity to implement a battery of non-animal, alternative methods, establishing scientific evidence of safety for key ingredients.
In addition, many of the ingredients being questioned by the agency have been used in Europe for years with no apparent health concerns.
Therefore, if the agency needs scientific data to categorize sunscreen ingredients as safe, that data is available from non-animal tests and is more relevant than animal testing could provide! Requiring new animal tests simply does not make sense and would result in painful animal suffering.
The FDA needs to recognize that Americans want safe AND cruelty-free sunscreens.
To assure quality science and consumer confidence, the FDA needs to forge ahead with alternative methods and nix the animal tests. Tell the FDA that you don’t want animal testing in your sunscreen!
Other News
Animal Welfare Essential to Biodiversity
As a founding member of the World Federation for Animals (WFA), our involvement is an extension of our work, as WFA moves to push global policy to elevate animal protection, including animals used in science. Currently, WFA is at the Convention on Biological Diversity conference in Colombia and will discuss its analysis and recommendations that focus on animal welfare to achieve success in global biodiversity efforts.
Overcoming Barriers for Promising Alternatives
There is great potential for organs-on-chips and similar new technologies to model human disease more accurately than animal tests, reducing drug failure rates and limiting unnecessary animal suffering. However, their widespread use in biomedical research faces resistance. One author proposes that building awareness and access, enhancing education, increasing funding rewards, and having ethical discussions over their application could overcome barriers to implementation.
Sanctuary Moment
Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest
A recent blog post by our friends at Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest (CSNW) explored the subject of relationship preferences of chimps. When describing the personalities and relationships among the chimps living at CSNW, the caregivers will often use the term “chimps chimp.” It’s a simple way to say that an individual chimpanzee prefers the companionship of other chimps. While a few of the chimpanzees at CSNW fall into this category (Annie and Missy), several others would often rather spend time with their caregivers because, for much of their young lives, they were kept as pets or used in the entertainment industry, where their primary social interactions were with humans.
It’s important to CSNW that they nurture chimpanzee culture and natural behaviors and foster social interaction that is on their terms. So, for example, if caregivers come across several chimpanzees in a grooming session, they won’t interrupt and will instead come back later. At the same time, when chimpanzees seek interaction with their caregivers, it’s OK for them to reciprocate. And who could say no to taking a run with Burrito on Young’s Hill!
CSNW is a longtime recipient of AAVS Sanctuary Fund grants and does an excellent job sharing the lives of the 15 chimpanzees in their care through daily blogs. Be sure to check them out to see who’s a chimps chimp!