On Tuesday, April 29, 2025, NIH director Dr. Jay Bhattacharya announced that “The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is adopting a new initiative to expand innovative, human-based science while reducing animal use in research. Developing and using cutting-edge alternative nonanimal research models aligns with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) recent initiative to reduce testing in animals. While traditional animal models continue to be vital to advancing scientific knowledge, using new and emerging technologies can offer unique strengths that, when utilized correctly or in combination, can expand the toolbox for researchers to answer previously difficult or unanswerable biomedical research questions.”
“For decades, our biomedical research system has relied heavily on animal models. With this initiative, NIH is ushering in a new era of innovation,” said NIH Director Dr. Jay Bhattacharya. “By integrating advances in data science and technology with our growing understanding of human biology, we can fundamentally reimagine the way research is conducted—from clinical development to real-world application. This human-based approach will accelerate innovation, improve healthcare outcomes, and deliver life-changing treatments. It marks a critical leap forward for science, public trust, and patient care.”
The press release goes on to say that research using animal models have been unsuccessful because of differences between humans and animals in “anatomy, physiology, lifespan, and disease characteristics.” They talk further about new and emerging technologies that will be used either alone or in combination with animal models.
Many antivivisection organizations are celebrating this major step forward in ending the use of animals in laboratories but we have a long way to go before we join those groups in celebrating victory. The press release makes clear that the NIH will still be using animal models in their biomedical research which means that tens of thousands of animals will still be needlessly tortured even though Dr. Bhattacharya and the NIH vivisectors know that extrapolation between animals and people is impossible.
Here is what former NIH director Dr. Elias Zerhouni said on June 4, 2013 that gave us so much hope that things would changed at the NIH. “We have moved away from studying human disease in humans. We all drank the Kool-Aid on that one, me included. With the ability to knock in or knock out any gene in a mouse – which can’t sue us — researchers have over-relied on animal data…The problem is that it hasn’t worked, and it’s time we stopped dancing around the problem. We need to refocus and adapt new methodologies for use in humans to understand disease biology in humans.” Unfortunately, a few years later Dr. Zerhouni backtracked his words when he left the NIH and went to work for pharma. Dr. Bhattacharya may understand the truth about vivisection like Dr. Zerhouni did, but he needs our support to stand up to the powerful vivisection/pharmaceutical industry to make clear that vivisection is a fraud and phase out vivisection completely at the NIH.
The tens of thousands of vivisectors being funded by the NIH will not give up brutalizing animals easily. Vivisection is a billion dollar industry and the greedy monsters who torture animals are accustomed to getting paid for coming up with absolutely nothing. Even though their horrific animal experiments result in complete and utter failure, vivisectors have their grants renewed year after year. Now the fraud of vivisection is in danger of being exposed because the use of non animal scientific technology will show that most of the drugs and vaccines that are making billions of dollars a year for the pharmaceutical industry are useless, harmful, and a waste of money. Insisting that animal models must be used as well as non animal research will help vivisectors create a smokescreen that vivisection is needed to back up scientific human-based research.
We must let Dr. Jay Bhattacharya know that antivivisectionists are aware of the fact that using animal models is not science and that no animal experiments can be extrapolated to humans. He must abolish all vivisection at the NIH.
Please email Dr. Bhattacharya at the NIH. Cut and paste the following letter to him or compose your own letter. We do not have his direct email but here is the email to the Communications and Public Liaison office. odocplinquiries@od.nih.gov
This is the site for general comments to the NIH https://www.nih.gov/about-nih/ask-nih Address your comments to Dr. Bhattacharya.
Dear Dr. Bhattacharya:
We are very grateful that you plan on reducing the number of animals brutalized in NIH vivisection laboratories. It is clear that you understand that experiments on animals cannot be extrapolated to humans because of differences in physiology, metabolism, genetics, biochemistry, diet, and environment. It is not science and it does not work. We know that you also understand that using so-called animal models to find cures to any disease has been a complete failure. Alzheimer’s researchers have tortured countless animals for over 100 years in their vivisection laboratories purporting to be searching for an “animal model” for Alzheimer’s. Obviously, this has not worked. The search for animal models to find cures is a complete fraud and must be discontinued. We also ask that you end the horrific experiments being perpetrated by your institutes like the Eunice Shriver Child Health and Human Development Institute. For over 50 years the Shriver Labs have perpetrated unspeakably horrific torture on baby monkeys and their mothers for no purpose other than obtaining grants for vivisectors. The closing of the notorious NIH Eunice Shriver Baby Monkey Lab in Poolesville, MD in 2015 was a good start. Thank you for setting the NIH on the path to ending the fraud, waste, and abuse of animal experimentation. We sincerely hope that complete abolition of vivisection will happen in the near future.
Sincerely,