Stars, Cross-Party Politicians, Scientists, Veterinarians, NGOs & Over 18,000 Others Raise Alarm Over Draft Indian Animal Experimentation Rules 2026
John Abraham, Tabu, Hema Malini, Raveena Tandon, Shilpa Shetty, cricketer KL Rahul, Jacqueline Fernandez, Diana Penty, Rupali Ganguly, Zahrah S Khan, Rahul Khanna, Dia Mirza, Harshvardhan Rane, Palak Tiwari and Wamiqa Gabbi have signed a petition calling for the withdrawal of India’s proposed animal experimentation rules. Several cross-party Members of Parliament have also signed the appeal, written to the authorities, or publicly expressed concerns about the proposed rules, including Lok Sabha MP Hema Malini, Rajya Sabha MP Sulata Deo, Lok Sabha MP Dr. Mohammad Jawed, and former Union Minister and Rajya Sabha MP Renuka Chowdhury. Meanwhile, over 100 Indian and international scientists, over 100 veterinarians, and over 60 Indian animal protection organisations have endorsed appeals urging that the draft rules be withdrawn in their present form. More than 18,000 people have signed a petition via PETAIndia.com calling for the same.
The widespread appeal follows serious concerns raised by PETA India, former Union Minister Maneka Gandhi and many others over the draft Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (Control and Supervision of Experiment, Breeding and Trading of Laboratory Animals) Rules, 2026, which, if notified in their present form, would weaken existing protections for animals used in laboratories at a time when India and other countries are making significant advances in modern, non-animal science.
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PETA India warns that the proposed rules could open the door to increased capture and use of protected wildlife in experiments, permit community dogs and cats to be used in laboratories under specified circumstances and continue to allow experiments involving severe pain and distress, including inescapable electric shocks, induced tumours, and toxicity tests in which death is an endpoint. The draft would also reduce direct oversight by the Central Committee for Control and Supervision of Experiments on Animals (CCSEA) over many experiments and fail to retain specificity regarding several other important existing animal welfare safeguards, including those concerning anaesthesia, euthanasia and rehabilitation.
India has already taken significant steps towards replacing experiments on animals. The country prohibited animal testing for cosmetics in 2014 and, through the New Drugs and Clinical Trials (Amendment) Rules, 2023, expressly recognised scientifically advanced, human-relevant testing methods. The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has also supported 109 research projects involving non-animal testing methods, including organ-on-chip technologies, three-dimensional tissue models and computer-based approaches, across 71 institutes and laboratories throughout the country.
Regulatory and scientific institutions in the United States, the United Kingdom, and the European Union are also accelerating the adoption of non-animal methods. PETA India maintains that any new regulations in India should build on the country’s achievements by strengthening animal welfare safeguards, ensuring independent oversight and prioritising modern, human-relevant research techniques over animal experiments.
PETA India is urging members of the public to add their voices to the growing appeal by submitting objections and suggestions calling for the withdrawal of the proposed rules, with submissions due by 5 November 2026.
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