Cruel animal testing is prohibited by law. The Animal Welfare Act set minimum standards for the care of research animals, including veterinary care, housing, feeding, sanitation, and ventilation. It also requires that all registered animal research facilities have an Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC) to make sure there is no cruel animal testing in the facility's research process. The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is also required to conduct at least one unannounced inspection per year at every registered facility to check for any possible cruel animal testing methods.

Cruel animal testing not only hurts the animals involved, it risks the research itself. Valid scientific results from animal research depend on good animal care. If animals used in research are unhealthy or stressed, scientists may not be able to use their findings for the betterment of society.

Many of the cruel animal testing practices used in the early days of animal research have now been outlawed or abandoned by scientists in favor of the three Rs of animal research. Most scientists are now committed to refining tests so animal distress or pain is minimal, reducing the number of animals used in each particular study, and replacing animal experiments with non-animal experiments whenever possible.

If you have witnessed cruel animal testing, you can report it to your local police department or humane society. You can also write letters to the editor of your local newspaper or to your representatives in Congress to urge others to take a stand against cruel animal testing.

Visit our Take Action against Animal Cruelty page to learn more about what you can do to help eliminate cruel animal testing.