According to a recent NPR article, the FDA has dropped the requirement for drugs to be tested on animals before humans in trials. It amends the U.S. Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act originally passed in 1938. This has long been the goal of animal rights activists who maintain that animal testing is ineffective and expensive.
At the other end of the argument is the National Association for Biomedical Research, which claims animal testing “remains the best way to examine complex physiological, neuroanatomical, reproductive, developmental and cognitive effects of drugs to determine if they are safe and effective for market approval.” To be clear, the new law doesn’t ban animal testing; it simply lifts the requirement pharmaceutical companies had to conduct animal tests before human trials.
