US Animal Testing: 2024 Lab Animal Use Decline
Recent Developments
012025-04: The FDA announced a roadmap to phase out animal testing requirements for monoclonal antibodies and other drugs, beginning immediate implementation for IND applications.
022026-01 to 2026-03: The FDA reported first-year progress on its roadmap to reduce animal testing in preclinical safety studies.
032024: USDA-reported animal use in the reported category fell to 851,898 across 776 facilities, with 763,026 excluding birds, down nearly 10% from 2023.
Interventions
- FDA New Approach Methodologies (NAMs) roadmap to reduce and potentially replace animal testing in drug development.
- EPA commitment to phase out mammal testing for chemical and pesticide studies by 2035.
- Advocacy and monitoring by animal-welfare organizations documenting reporting gaps and pushing for non-animal methods.
What Works
- Human-relevant non-animal methods such as AI-based computational toxicity models, cell lines, and organoid testing are explicitly identified by the FDA as replacement or reduction tools.
- Phasing out animal testing requirements in specific drug classes, starting with monoclonal antibodies, is an active federal approach intended to reduce animal use while maintaining safety evaluation.
How to Help
- Support organizations advocating for non-animal methods and stronger reporting requirements.
- Contact federal representatives to back FDA, NIH, and EPA adoption of validated non-animal testing approaches.
- Promote and fund research using NAMs, organoids, and computational toxicology instead of animal models.
Make an Impact
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Verified Organizations
Organizations Helping(10)
PETA’s anti-experimentation work focuses on exposing the scale of U.S. lab animal use, pressuring regulators to expand reporting and protections, and advocating for non-animal research. Its materials argue that most lab animals are still exempt from the Animal Welfare Act and that valid non-animal methods should replace animal use when available.
PETA tackles animal testing through direct action and institutional pressure: (1) Campaign victories—they obtain documents exposing cruel experiments (such as Navy-funded decompression tests on sheep at University of Wisconsin–Madison worth $389,000) and use public pressure to shut them down. (2) Grassroots mobilization—they coordinate supporter campaigns (52,000+ PETA supporters sent emails opposing animal experiments to the Taiwan FDA, leading to policy changes). (3) Institutional pressure—they send letters to government officials and university administrators demanding the end of specific animal testing programs. (4) Legislative advocacy—they support federal bills like the Cease Animal Research Grants Overseas Act (CARGO ACT, HR 4757) to prohibit NIH funding of animal experiments in foreign laboratories. (5) Regulatory engagement—they work with regulatory agencies to transition away from animal testing toward human-relevant methods.
NAVS tackles the animal testing crisis through multiple strategies: (1) Data transparency and advocacy—they compile and publicly release USDA animal research data, making laboratory animal use visible to the public and policymakers. They were the first organization to include bird data in 2024 analysis, expanding the picture of animal use. (2) Policy advocacy—they work to strengthen federal reporting requirements and push for regulatory changes. (3) Promotion of alternatives—they advocate for the transition to humane, human-relevant research methods to replace animal testing. Their senior manager of policy and advocacy has publicly called for continued pressure to drive down animal use numbers and replace animal experiments with non-animal methods.
The Microsystem Project works to accelerate the development and regulatory acceptance of human-based test methods, including organ-on-chip and other microsystem platforms. Its approach is to support scientific validation, policy adoption, and collaboration between researchers, industry, and regulators so that animal-based tests can be replaced with more predictive methods.
