Animal-Free Research Centre Approved by Dutch Government
The Netherlands is paving the way for animal-free scientific innovation by funding a new – humane – biomedical research centre that will develop medical treatments without testing on animals.
The Dutch National Growth Fund has allocated a staggering €124.5 million for the establishment of the Centre for Animal-Free Biomedical Translation (CPBT), marking significant progress in animal-free science.
What Is the Centre for Animal-Free Biomedical Translation?
The research centre will pioneer advancements in biomedical research – without tormenting animals. Its mission is to develop safer and more effective treatments for a range of diseases, from asthma to cystic fibrosis.
In collaboration with national and international partners, the CPBT will establish a hub for animal-free biomedical innovation and shared expertise.
Signifying a paradigm shift in drug development, the groundbreaking centre will bring together parties involved in all aspects of the development of novel animal test–free approaches – from conception to application. The CPBT will show scientists, companies, and regulators that safe and effective drugs can be developed without experiments on animals, and it will provide training to help all parties integrate animal-free approaches into the drug development system.
Why This Is Important Progress
More than 9 million animals are used in experiments in Europe every year. Living, feeling beings are legally poisoned, subjected to psychological distress, deliberately infected with diseases, subjected to brain damage, paralysed, exposed to skin or eye irritants, burned, gassed, force-fed, electrocuted, deprived of food, water, or sleep – and killed.
Millions more are bred to suffer from debilitating genetic modifications, used as breeding machines in the cruel animal-experiment supply chain, or left to languish in cages until they die.
Animal-Free Research Is the Future
Humans differ from other animals biologically, metabolically, and physically. Testing on other species is not only cruel but also bad science that can hold us back from making scientific breakthroughs.
Did you know that ibuprofen causes kidney failure and stomach ulcers in cats and dogs or that morphine, a depressant in humans, has the opposite effect on goats and horses? Many useful drugs that have been used safely by humans for decades, such as penicillin or tamoxifen (a treatment for breast cancer), may have never made it to market if they were subject to today’s animal testing regulatory requirements.
The world’s forward-thinking scientists are developing and using methods for studying diseases and testing products that can replace the use of animals and are actually relevant to human health.
What Research Will Be Undertaken at CPBT?
Initially, the CPBT will concentrate on amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, cystic fibrosis, osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis, and asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. The investigations in these areas can then serve as blueprints for other areas of humane biomedical research.
Improving Education, Training, and Advocacy
The CPBT will also provide education, training, and support to promote the acceptance and adoption of animal-free biomedical innovations. PETA’s science advisor on animal testing in the Netherlands, Dr Janneke Hogervorst, is involved in these initiatives. Together with Prof Daniela Salvatori from the CPBT, Dr Hogervorst has initiated the Global Education Hub for animal-free innovation, whose mission is to share and disseminate knowledge, best practices, and animal-free education tools around the world.
Animals in Laboratories Still Need Help
This facility sets a precedent for other countries to follow. However, as outlined in PETA’s Research Modernisation Deal, governments must do more than provide financial incentives to end experiments on animals.
The Research Modernisation Deal outlines six key steps needed for developing a roadmap to end the use of animals in research and testing and accelerate the uptake of non-animal methods.
Will you urge the government to take action for monkeys, rabbits, mice, and other animals?
