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Kennedy takes aim at animal research

HHS head focuses on food, pharma, not farms

By: Swapna Venugopal Ramaswamy
USA Today

..... Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has added another issue to his Make America Healthy Again agenda; limiting reliance on animal research.
..... Criticism of animal research - usually associated with the progressive left - has grown in recent years, blamed for the slow pace of drug development. At the same time, artificial intelligence, which relies less on animal test subjects, has become increasingly important in speeding that development. Researchers have also cerated increasingly realistic disease models in their lab dishes, testing drugs on so-called organoids instead of animals, including mice, rabbits and primaes.
..... Now, a couple of new initiatives by the national Institutes of Health are making good on that promise as Kennedy;s MAHA agenda continues to color outside the lines of the Republican agenda and takes up causes traditionally championed by some Democrats.
..... The effort could be a consequential intersection between an important wing of President Donald Trump's MAGA movement with animal rights activist not typically popular with Republicans.
..... But Kennedy's move might help bring more independents and liberals under the MAGA umbrella, said Alfred Runte, an environmental historian and a former board member of he National Parks Conservation Association.
..... "He'll get more people confident in government. That's what we're lacking,: said Runte. "Most animal rights activists then to be leftists. IF RFK can make believers out of people that don't want so much animal testing, I think that will inertially bring more liberals into the Republican fold."
..... Anibal testing in medicine often fails to accurately product human outcomes, Runte said. The Food and Drug Administration noted in September [2025] that "Annal-based data have been particularly poor predictors of drug success for multiple common diseases including cancer, Alzheimer's and inflammatory diseases."

Organoid development

..... In September, NIH launched the nation's first dedicated organoid development center to cerate organisms grown from stem cells that mimic human organs to recuse reliance on animals.
..... In December 2022, congress ended the requirement that all new drugs must be tested on two species - usually mice and a "higher order" mammal like rabbits or primates - before human trials. The law called the FDA Modernization Act 2.0, was the culmination of 40 years of lobbying by animal rights activists.
..... Kennedy, a longtime vaccine skeptic who has promoted unfounded theories claiming vaccines cause autism, could also tap into what might be called the cutline-vaccine-hesitatn demographic.
..... A 2023 study in the journal Vaccine found attitudes around human and pet vaccine hesitancy are closely correlated and serve as strong predictors of vaccination behavior. The researchers call it "vaccine spillover," with more than 50% of surveyed dog owners expressing doubts about vaccines guarding against rabies and other pet diseases.
..... Kennedy's first Make America Healthy Again report, released in May, [2025] included a promise the federal government would focus on "new technologies" to help reduce animal testing.
..... In late September, [2025] NIH, now overseen by Kennedy, launched the government's first dedicated organoid development center. With contracts totaling 487 million for the first tree years, the Standardized Organoid Modeling Center will use and develop these cutting-edge technologies.
..... The NIH is also now allowing scientists to sue grant money to defray the coasts of retiring or re-homing animals used in research, instead of killing them. NIH has long funded the retirement of chimpanzees formerly used in experiments, supporting their placement in sanctuaries.

PETA gives MAHA a thumbs-up

..... People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals - the country's best-known, and perhaps most controversial, animal rights organization - hailed NIH's recent actions as a "historic move."
..... "Make no mistake, this center will save countless animal lives while developing reproducible research methods that will lead to far quicker positive results for human patients in need," said Dr. Emily Trunnell, a PETA neuroscientist.
..... When Kennedy first announced his intention to phase out animal testing, an animal rights group based in Los Angeles called the policy push "welcome but long overdue."
..... "It is disgusting that medical research laboratories that are federally funded by HHS and the National Institutes of Health continue to torture animals for decades by using them as subjects for gruesome medical experiments and tests," said Chris DeRose, founder and president of last Chance for Animals. "Regardless of policies, we are thankful that the Trump administration, under the leadership of Secretary Kennedy, has finally put a stop to it."

Kennedy avoids harder targets

..... While Kennedy has targeted food dyes, ultra-processed foods and the pharmaceutical industry, he as so far not touched issues affecting agribusiness, ans industry that favors Republicans. But he did talk about these issues before he took office.
..... "America's current ag policy is destroying America's health on every level," Kennedy said in an October 2024 video, after he dropped out of the presidential race as an independent and endorsed Trump. "It destroys the health of America's soil and water by tilting the playing field in favor of more chemicals, more herbicides, more insecticides, more concentrated mono-crops and feedlots and finally, it destroys the health of consumers."
..... The National Association of Biomedical Research said Kennedy;s calls to reduce or phase out animal testing overlooks a critical truth: There is currently no full replacement for animal models.
..... "We all want better and faster ways to bring lifesaving treatments to patients," NABR President Matthew R. Bailey said. "But no AI model or simulation has yet demonstrated the ability to fully replicate all the unknowns about many full biological systems."

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