Modi Government Takes Steps to Reduce Animal Testing for Pesticides Following PETA India Action
For Immediate Release:
9 May 2022
Contact:
Ankita Pandey; [email protected]
Hiraj Laljani ; [email protected]
New Delhi – Following recommendations from People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) India scientists, the Registration Committee (RC), under the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, has approved guidelines on biopesticides (microbial pesticides) that will spare the lives of many animals. As per the minutes of RC’s 439th meeting, the new guidelines recommend that “replacement alternatives not involving experiments on animals should also be given due consideration” and include several provisions for minimising tests on animals for the safety evaluation of microbial pesticides. They are expected to be published soon on the official website of the Central Insecticides Board & Registration Committee.
The guidelines also recommend examining all existing information, including on structurally and biologically similar pesticides, from existing animal data and non-animal approaches (in chemico, in vitro, and computational models), which will provide scientifically justified safety assessment while reducing tests on animals. The RC will also accept non-animal methods for measuring skin and eye irritation and skin sensitisation that can replace cruel and painful tests in which chemicals are applied to the sensitive skin or eyes of rabbits and guinea pigs.
Furthermore, the RC has removed the requirement of additional species for tests in which rats, mice, and birds are force-fed food or water laden with pesticides. As per the guidelines, for new mixtures of microbial pesticides, available information on the individual components (microbial strains) must be considered when determining the safety of the mixture so that more animals can be spared.
“We applaud the Modi government for setting a precedent and modernising its guidelines to minimise the use of animals for the safety evaluation of microbial pesticides in favour of more reliable testing methods,” says PETA India Science Policy Advisor Dr Ankita Pandey. “The new guidelines will reduce the number of animals being poisoned and killed in unreliable tests. PETA India scientists will continue to collaborate with the government to replace tests on animals with more relevant, scientifically sound testing approaches.”
Every year, around the world, animals are killed in an attempt to establish the safety of pesticides for human health and the environment. In these tests, animals are forced to consume food or water laced with a product – the substance is pumped into their stomachs or they’re made to inhale it, and then they are killed.
PETA India – whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to experiment on” – opposes speciesism, a human-supremacist worldview. For more information, please visit PETAIndia.com or follow the group on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.
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