Trump Administration Phases Out Animal Testing at FDA and EPA, NIH Funds Controversial Beagle Experiments

The Trump administration has received praise from animal rights organizations for its recent decisions to phase out animal testing within the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The FDA, under Commissioner Martin A. Makary, announced it will no longer require animal testing for monoclonal antibody therapies and other drugs, opting instead for technologies like organoids and artificial intelligence. PETA and other groups have celebrated this move as a step towards reducing animal suffering in scientific research. In parallel, the EPA, led by Administrator Lee Zeldin, has reinstated a policy from the first Trump administration to phase out the use of animals in its research, aiming to reduce mammal testing by 30% by 2025 and eliminate it completely by 2035. This policy had been slowed under the Biden administration but is now being revitalized. Despite these progressive moves, controversy persists as the National Institutes of Health (NIH) has been criticized for funding animal testing. A recent investigation by the White Coat Waste Project revealed that the NIH is funding experiments on beagles and pigs for an experimental weight-loss drug, conducted by Syntis Bio, a company co-founded by Moderna's billionaire co-founder Robert Langer. These experiments, taking place at Tufts University, involve force-feeding animals diet pills meant to replicate the effects of gastric bypass surgery. The NIH has allocated $322,000 for this project since last year, with testing scheduled to continue until August 2025, and an additional $349,000 grant for further animal testing. This has sparked outrage among animal rights advocates and calls for the Trump administration to intervene and stop such practices.