Federal Panel Fails To Prevent Vicious Animal Testing

[flashl]

by Gilbert M. Gaul

Each year, American doctors inject more than 3 million doses of Botox to temporarily smooth their patients’ wrinkles and frown lines. But before each batch is shipped, the manufacturer puts it through one of the oldest and most controversial animal tests available.

Animal protection groups consider “lethal dose 50,” as the test is known, to be “the poster child for everything that’s wrong with animal testing,” said Martin Stephens, vice president for animal research issues at the Humane Society of the United States. “It’s as bad as it gets, poisoning animals to death.”

Allergan officials say they have no choice. Without a federally approved safety test that does not use animals, a company spokeswoman says, lethal dose 50 “is by default the required test.”

...

Several of the panel’s original backers now consider the system broken. As a result, critics say, hundreds of thousands of mice, rabbits, hamsters and dogs continue to suffer and die unnecessarily in tests for pesticides, household cleaners, sunscreens and other products.

“We were thrilled when the legislation was passed,” said Sara Amundson, a former official with the Doris Day Animal League who was involved in creating the panel. “It’s shocking to look back and see how little we have accomplished.”

Commondreams