In the United States, animal testing laboratories will finance alternative methods
On 8 May 2023, the State of Maryland in the United States passed a law to create a fund for the development of substitute methods for animal testing. And the State will not be the only one to fund it, since laboratories carrying out experiments on animals will themselves also participate by means of an obligatory annual contribution. One Voice is encouraging the European Union and France to follow this example.
In December 2022, a modification to American law already allowed the sale of medications without them having to be tested on animals.
This time, Maryland is showing the way to a future without animal testing by choosing to finance alternatives and by involving a contribution from laboratories. Based on the number of animals used each year, each laboratory in this small Eastern State of the United States must give an annual contribution which can range from 5000 to 75,000 dollars. And if one of them refuses to pay for their participation in the development of more ethical research methods, they must pay a fine that can be up to 1000 dollars for every day it goes unpaid.
Unfortunately, the effects of this initiative are weakened by the calculation method used by the American Ministry of Agriculture, who has conveniently chosen not to count mice, rats, birds, and fish as victims of animal testing… so the vast majority of individuals concerned.
Insufficient investments in France
In France, where 600 laboratories use 3000 animals per year each on average according to statistics, the creation of such a fund would allow 30 million euros per year to be given to research into substitute methods for animal testing. This amount could supply the FC3R, which would need supplementary financing: created in 2021 and active since 2023, this centre serving to finance ‘replacing’ projects can currently only invest 784,467 euros shared between 19 projects. A very small amount in relation to the 81% of French people in favour of developing alternative methods for experiments inflicted upon animals.
While we have just asked the European Commission to commit in favour of a plan aiming to progressively eliminate all tests on animals, One Voice is encouraging the European Union and France to more seriously finance alternative methods.
Translated from the French by Joely Justice