Laboratory Testing Industry Doubles Down on Monkey Breeding Even as Congress Directs Phase-Down of Archaic Animal Models

Key lawmakers from both parties seek to build on FDA Modernization Act with 3.0 version to accelerate movement toward 21st-century human-biology-based testing methods.

Dear John,

Last Congress, we passed the FDA Modernization Act 2.0 to eliminate an animal-testing mandate that had been in place since the Great Depression era.

With that new law—which you helped us pass with your letter-writing and financial support—we were poised to turn the page on the era of unyielding, archaic, and inhumane animal testing, along with the breeding and collecting of animals that precede invasive procedures.

But the FDA, breeding labs, and too many in the scientific establishment are still working from reflexive muscle memory when it comes to animal testing. Animal testing is what they know, and they are firmly gripping their old instruments of pain.

The FDA is not implementing the new law as it should. This puts animals at continuing risk, and it also delays the prospect of delivering safer, more effective drugs at a lower cost and a faster pace to patients.

A group of bi-partisan members of Congress is leading an effort to tell the FDA to do its job, and the bill needs your support. Please send an email to your legislators by filling out the form below.

Beagles at Risk

We will never forget the plight of the beagles mistreated by Envigo.

It didn’t take an eagle eye or beagle nose to sniff out abuses at the Virginia-based dog-breeding facility. After a 2022 investigation by PETA into its practice of selling beagles for invasive experiments, Envigo was hit by the U.S. Department of Agriculture with more than 70 animal-welfare violations.

Dead puppies, decomposed bodies, complete inattention to animals in varying states of illness. Just a single veterinarian had the task of caring for 5,000 dogs.

The U.S. Department of Justice shut it down in the end and worked with non-government organizations to adopt out the gentle, compliant, floppy-eared beagles.

But many other beagles, without proper action by the FDA, are still being used in labs by the thousands.

Trafficking of Primates from Asia to the U.S. for Use in Labs

Primates are also in use, but the lab-animal-testing world has had a supply crisis. China cut off primate exports bound for U.S. labs after COVID-19 and as concerns rose about further spread of zoonotic disease.

Rather than embrace 21st-century strategies, U.S. laboratories panicked and declared “a national monkey shortage.” They decided to double down on primate use and figure out a new supply chain.

It didn’t start well for them. Charles River Laboratories, a big name in the field, decided to get monkeys from Cambodia. It turns out they were importing wild-caught, endangered primates from the southeast Asian nation.

A U.S. Department of Justice subpoena followed, highlighting illegal trafficking of endangered long-tailed cynomolgus macaques. The DOJ indicted eight Cambodians at the center of a separate smuggling ring.

With its international trafficking options limited, the lab-breeding industry turned to domestic breeding strategies. They felt the pull of big money in the primate trade. Pre-pandemic, primates went for $7,000-$9,000 per animal. They’re now priced at $50,000 apiece.

Monkey Farms in Georgia and Texas

Safer Human Medicine decided to build a monkey-breeding facility starting in 2023. With a 20-year tax abatement scheme worth at least $58 million, the plan was to become the monkey-breeding capital of the United States, breeding 30,000 monkeys in a town of 15,000 people.

After much agitation, Decatur County commissioners voted to withdraw the previously approved tax breaks. Lawsuits ensued.

More good news is that a second attempt to build a primate farm in Texas is also languishing. Charles River Laboratories bought more than 500 acres of land in Brazoria County last March to open a facility to house more than 43,000 monkeys. This plan didn’t even get out of the gate. Brazoria County Commissioners Court passed a resolution asking federal and state agencies to deny the company permits to bring the animals to their corner of Texas. Charles River has since put its plans on hold.

Getting On with the Transition to Human-Biology-Based Testing

The current animal-centered paradigm of drug development—whether it’s primates, beagles, or other animals—yields a crushing 90-95% failure in clinical trials of the experimental drugs. That means that when drugs pass muster in years of animal tests, nine of ten drugs fail when they reach the human clinical trial phase.

In what kind of business do we accept that rate of failure?

With a system that relies on animal models, we have no cures for major diseases, such as Parkinson’s, multiple sclerosis, Alzheimer’s, congestive heart failure, stroke, pancreatic cancer, brain tumors, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, and psychiatric disorders like schizophrenia, depression, and more.

Rather than expanding the breeding of primates for cruel, costly, and suspect use, it’s time to turn to 21st-century science. Throwing more money at animal-breeding facilities makes little sense.

The FDA Modernization Act 3.0

When enacted, the FDA Modernization Act 3.0, H.R. 7248, will direct the FDA to create a credible qualification program of non-animal testing methods. FDAMA 3.0 will also require the FDA to align its regulations with the new statute under the FDA Modernization Act 2.0.

The FDA’s response is intolerable, as a matter of animal health but also human health and wellness. It’s indefensible to keep relying on animal models that do not translate to the human condition. We must do better!

Join us today by contacting your legislators and urging them to support the FDA Modernization Act 3.0.

If you support this work, please make a contribution to help us keep up the pressure against cruel and unnecessary animal testing.