In another heavy-hitting collaboration, PETA scientists coauthored an article with leading universities, corporations, and government agencies–including Cardiff University, The Dow Chemical Company, and the Department of Defense–that details methods of studying the toxic effects of inhaled substances using animal-free approaches instead of causing animals to suffer.
The partnership follows other efforts by the PETA International Science Consortium to replace inhalation testing in animals, including hosting a 2016 webinar series and workshop, funding the development of animal-free methods, donating essential testing equipment, and more.
Rats and other animals used in toxicity testing can breathe easier, thanks to a recent report published in the journal Toxicology in Vitro. In a major collaborative effort with government and industry officials, scientists at the PETA International Science Consortium Ltd. spearheaded the publication detailing ways to replace animals in inhalation tests.
Currently, animals are squeezed into narrow tubes in which they are immobilized and forced to inhale toxic substances for hours on end before being killed and their bodies dissected.
The PETA International Science Consortium Ltd. co-authored the comprehensive report with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, The Dow Chemical Company, Syngenta, British American Tobacco, the University of Pennsylvania, and Cardiff University, among others.
This collaborative work is critical to ensure that any new approaches developed will have buy-in from the industries that conduct the research and the regulatory agencies that require that testing be conducted.
The non-animal approaches include computer modeling and the use of 3-D tissues that can be exposed to test substances in ways that mimic realistic human exposure. To help researchers conduct non-animal inhalation testing, the PETA International Science Consortium also provided inhalation testing devices that do not use animals–over $400,000 worth–to four pioneering laboratories around the world.
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