Canada\u00a0<\/p>\n
In Canada, we exposed the commercial import of wild-caught long-tailed macaque monkeys (Mauritius and Cambodia exported nearly 1,800 of them to Canada between 2021 and 2023), highlighting the fact that Canada is right up there with the United States as one of the world\u2019s only importers of endangered wild macaques. We called on the government to ban the import, sale and use of all wild-caught primates (with a sanctuary exception), take meaningful action to improve the welfare of wild macaques in the country, strengthen standards for reporting and accountability for all protocols involving primates, and invest in technologies to replace animal use in research.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Canada also published a strategy to guide and promote the use of non-animal approaches that replace,\u202freduce\u202for refine the use of vertebrate animals in toxicity testing of chemicals whenever possible.\u200b Our continued input during consultations and meetings with the government contributed significantly to shaping this strategy, and thousands of our supporters who wrote in during the consultation period played a critical role in influencing its development. To advance this work, we convened the first-of-its-kind workshop bringing together government, academia, industry, trade organizations, and the Canadian Council on Animal Care to discuss practical steps for turning the strategy into action. Our focus now is sustaining momentum and collaboration, so this strategy moves from words on paper to meaningful change.\u00a0<\/p>\n
South Korea\u00a0<\/p>\n
In South Korea, construction began on a national animal-free testing facility, scheduled for completion in 2026. This government-funded center will provide shared infrastructure for nonanimal toxicity testing, training and international collaboration using human cells, 3D models and AI-based tools. It is directly tied to the Ministry of Climate, Energy and Environment\u2019s aim for at least 60% of chemical safety data to come from non-animal methods rather than animal tests.\u00a0<\/p>\n
United Kingdom\u00a0<\/p>\n
Thanks to continued pressure from animal advocacy organizations such as ours and our partners, the\u202fUK government released plans to accelerate the phaseout of animal experiments in research and testing.\u200b These are the most extensive plans to date that aim to phase out animal use across all of discovery research and regulatory testing.\u00a0<\/p>\n
United States\u00a0<\/p>\n
Key agencies in the U.S. government made dramatic announcements this year that have major implications for animals used in research.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Scientists at the Centers for Disease Control have reportedly been instructed to end all current and future experimentation on monkeys<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n The Food and Drug Administration shared its plan to make animal tests the exception<\/a> and not the rule for testing medicines. Instead, it plans to prioritize non-animal methods that are \u201cfaster, cheaper and better at predicting human toxicity.\u201d The FDA also announced that it will implement reforms to clarify that animal testing by pharmaceutical companies is not required and should be replaced by non-animal methods, which is in line with our various efforts, including a petition we submitted in 2024 and our work with Congress. As part of the annual federal funding bill for the FDA<\/a>, Congress also directed the agency to revise its regulations to make it clear that testing performed on animals is not required for some kinds of testing<\/a>.\u00a0 In December, the FDA took the first step under its plan by identifying unnecessary tests on monkeys<\/a> that can be reduced or eliminated. Among other steps, the agency updated its website with a list of methods that companies could use as part of reducing or eliminating animal tests. The FDA also promised to create a guidance document on non-animal methods and take steps to underscore its acceptance of non-animal methods in relevant documents. This was one of our major requests of the FDA this year and marks a huge step to getting animals out of the lab.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n The National Institutes of Health announced<\/a> that it would \u201cprioritize human-based research technologies<\/a>.\u201d As the world\u2019s largest funder of biomedical research, with an annual budget of $48 billion, NIH has enormous influence on how science is conducted not only in the U.S. but around the world. Its announcement carried an implicit acknowledgment of the limited effectiveness of animal experimentation to advancing human health research.\u00a0<\/p>\n NIH made good on its commitment to reduce animal use in research. It announced that it will no longer seek new grant proposals that rely solely on animal experiments, launched a new center for the development of human organoid technology that can reduce reliance on animal experiments and closed the last remaining dog laboratory on the NIH campus.\u00a0<\/p>\n