PETA has been trying to make the use of animals for lab testing illegal over the past few years. Fortunately for the nonprofit organization, a recent discovery might make their pleas a reality sooner than expected.
Scientists from the United States have recently claimed that they're about to unravel a new alternative to testing drugs without using a live subject. The scientists are now in the process of perfecting the use of cells in petri dishes to find out if the toxin compound in the drug is harmful to humans. As of now the lab started to test almost 10,000 types of chemical compound including pesticides, industrial chemicals, and food additives to find out not only if its harmful to human but to the environment as well.
Toxicity is one of the major factor in which drugs usually fail and over the years scientists have been using animals to test how heavy the toxins are in a drug.
Using animals as lab "rats" is not only violating the rights of animals, it is also quite expensive. The new discovery currently named as Tox21 will not only make the advocacy of PETA finally come true, it would also help the government lessen the funds for drug testing. Three top U.S agencies are now joining forces with scientists to hasten the research on Tox21 namely - the Environmental Protection Agency, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
Tox21 will be freeing the animals from the lab tests that puts their life in danger and because of this PETA welcomes the new discovery with open arms. Julia Baines, science policy advisor of the organization has since voiced out her and her group's support for the project saying:
"To understand more about human development and human diseases, the world's most forward-thinking scientists are developing and implementing methods that supersede the crude use of animals. PETA welcomes the wealth of advanced non-animal research methodologies that are creating a brighter future for animals and human health."
