The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has officially closed its last in-house laboratory conducting experiments on beagles, marking the end of a controversial chapter in federal animal research.
The closure follows years of advocacy from organizations like the White Coat Waste Project and PETA, who have campaigned against the use of dogs in painful experiments. In response to the announcement, PETA’s Director of Science Advancement and Outreach, Dr. Emily Trunell, stated, “After more than a decade of agitation… PETA welcomes the long-overdue news that NIH is canceling at least one of the appalling sepsis experiments that inflicted prolonged suffering on animals.”
This move aligns with a broader shift within the NIH towards alternative research methods that do not involve animals. The agency has committed to prioritizing innovative, human-based approaches, such as organoids, tissue chips, and computational models, aiming to enhance the relevance and ethical standards of biomedical research.
Source: Shore News
