In my previous post about Prop 12, I said I would talk about what I consider to be actually useful legislation. So I’m going to talk about the update to the FDA Modernization Act; or, the FDA Modernization Act 2.0. This happened back in December of 2022 but I still think it’s useful to look at.
Back in 1938, a law was enacted saying that animal experiments were required for every new drug. This included drugs for diseases the animals didn’t contract naturally. All new drugs required animal experiments without exception. But with improving technology, this law became more and more antiquated.
I’ve said new laws need to be strategic and realistic. However, they have to do enough to be worth the time and money spent on them. After proposals from Animal Rights Groups, an update to the law was approved in The House of Representatives and The Senate. It had support ranging from people like Cory Booker, to Rand Paul and John Kennedy. Afterwards, it was signed by The President.
This law allows scientists to use methods other than Animal Experiments to test a drug’s effectiveness and safety. These include organs on a chip, cellular assays, computer models, AI, etc.
Many useless experiments get repeated because of laws we didn’t update. For example, we’ve known for a long time that lye, ammonia, and oven cleaner are corrosive. But we didn’t repeal the laws requiring us to drip these into rabbits’ eyes until 1983.
New methods and technologies are useful because they rely on human biology rather than non-human species. With organ chips, you combine cells with a computer chip to replicate the processes of human organs. These have been used to research cures for COVID 19 and diseases like influenza, malnutrition, radiation exposure, and cystic fibrosis.
Cellular Assays allow you to test compounds on cells.
With sophisticated computer models, we can simulate human biology and predict how diseases will progress. Quantitative structure activity analysis allows us to make advanced estimates for how likely a substance is hazardous. It does this using our current knowledge about human biology and comparing substances to things we already know are poisonous.
I have a much more detailed post about alternatives to animal experiments in the link below.
We need to make sure that Organ on Chips are brought into the preclinical workflow. They can’t be too expensive, and need to be implemented in labs around the world. But this new law is necessary to begin using these methods.
Drug testing is notoriously slow. It can cost billions of dollars and take up to a decade to complete. A major reason is because animal experiments are so inefficient. Toxicology information translates poorly between different species. Even small differences in biology can create huge disparities, including closely related species. Potential cures for diseases don’t show up when tested in animals. Potential side effects go undetected.
We often cut out Animal Experiments during emergency outbreaks in lieu of more efficient methods. One method is microdosing. This is where you give people very small doses of a drug and observe the effects. We can use in vitro testing. This is where you test human cells combined with a device. We can observe the effects of diseases on people who already have them. We can also do test trials for drugs using humans. Due to the actions of people in the past, we have very strict guidelines for human testing. You can’t inflict serious physical or psychological harm. However, before clinical trials we can predict the potential effects and risks of a drug. To grossly oversimplify, we do this by analyzing the chemical compounds and using mathematical models.
All the methods I mentioned are specifically for drug testing. There are so many more alternatives to Animal Experiments for general scientific research.
Lots of animal experiments are repeated because old data isn’t easy to access. Computerizing old files would make this easier.
Many people think Animal Experiments are a necessary evil. They think ending them would halt all research on diseases which kill them and their children. It won’t. In fact, Animal Experiments gunk up the process and make it take longer. However, despite the purported convenience or benefits of Animal Experiments, one simple fact remains. It’s wrong to experiment on others because they’re less intelligent. Especially when you take species out of the equation.
There may be situations where such experiments are necessary. For example, if hundreds of thousands are going to quickly die if you don’t do them. But you want to make sure that it’s truly an emergency, and you’re willing to cross this line. You should also minimize the suffering and harm you inflict.
But keep in mind, as little as two hundred years ago, our society did experiments on orphans. It also experimented on prisoners and slaves. It continued to experiment on prisoners and minorities in the twentieth century.
There’s still a major self interest element for eliminating animal experiments. Thousands of taxpayer dollars are wasted on experiments which are inconclusive, bizarre, or have obvious results. Examples include forcing animals to inhale tobacco smoke, or forcing them to ingest cocaine. As for drug testing, Animal Experiments makes the process slower and causes it to cost more money. The cost is passed down to the consumer, making medicines more expensive.
Surely anyone with a medical issue can benefit from voting for politicians who sign laws like the FDA Modernization Act 2.0.
Anyways, it’s just a thought. Have a good day everyone.