In U.S., Few Alternatives To Testing On Animals

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals distributes this photo to bolster their argument that animals used to test consumer products die unnecessarily.

Many firms say they have stopped using the lethal-dose method in favor of a test that uses fewer animals. But Allergan officials say that, for assessing potency, their only choice is the lethal dose test.

In 2005, the Humane Society requested that ICCVAM review non-animal alternatives to the Botox test. A panel of scientists gathered in 2006 and produced a draft report of the meeting in August 2007. But nearly a year later, the Humane Society's Stephens said he is still waiting for a final report and for direction from the federal group on what additional research is needed.

"It's great that ICCVAM held its workshop and drew some attention," said Stephens, a former member of the federal panel's scientific advisory committee. "But that alone won't get us to the finish line. We need to move beyond the animal methods and figure out which one or two of the replacements are the most promising."

Scientists who have gone before ICCVAM contend the process is unduly cumbersome, with multiple layers of review and panels that include scientists who are not familiar with regulatory issues or are not experts on non-animal tests.

"The big problem with the peer review panel was that many of them were chosen for their knowledge of the general field but didn't have a real understanding of what they were there to do," said Kristie Stoick, scientific and policy adviser to the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine.

Stoick closely followed a panel that recently reviewed a series of alternatives for a rabbit test used to measure bacteria levels in blood products and other materials. The panel rejected the alternatives, which have been used in Europe for years. Stoick said that several of the panel's observations and recommendations "seemed nonsensical, irrelevant or inappropriate. Too often it seems that panelists have unreasonable expectations regarding every minute detail of the alternative methods, without a clear understanding of the limitations of the current animal-based methods."

That view was echoed by Catherine Willett, director of science policy for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. "People just assume de facto that animal tests are relevant to humans without scientific evidence," she said. "It's not fair to make non-animal tests go through this [approval] process but not make the others."

One result of the delays is that some companies use non-animal tests in-house but are still required to perform animal tests to meet regulatory requirements.

"Companies are putting infinitely more money into the development of alternatives and are much more aware of . . . new in vitro methods than government regulators," said Rodger Curren, president of the nonprofit Institute for In Vitro Sciences in Gaithersburg, which works with consumer products companies to develop non-animal tests.

"But the regulators say, 'You still have to prove to me that it's safe using an animal.' "

The European Plan

Europe began moving away from animal testing more than 20 years ago. The European Commission voted in 1986 to require the use of alternative tests wherever possible. It later banned animal testing for cosmetics and passed other rules affecting chemical makers.

The European Center for the Evaluation of Alternative Methods, or ECVAM, was created in 1991. It has more than 60 employees and a budget of $25 million, about 10 times the size of its American counterpart. Another important difference: The European panel researches and develops non-animal tests, while the U.S. committee does not.