Can This Technology End Animal Testing?

It is estimated that over 25 million animals are used for research and testing in the United States every year. These animals are subjected to inhumane, painful tests as companies work to develop new pharmaceuticals and cosmetics, using animals for subjects before they can send products to human trials. After animals have completed testing, they are, sadly, euthanized.

But luckily, scientists are developing technologies that are making animal testing obsolete. Among these groundbreaking technologies is the in vitro chemosynthetic liver, in non-scientific terms, a “fake liver.”

The liver plays a major role in distributing medicines throughout the body. To test whether a drug will be effective, scientists need to examine how the liver metabolizes chemicals and distributes them into the blood stream. Before the chemosynthetic liver, researchers used beagles, studying saliva and urine samples to determine how drugs are metabolized. Now, these tests can be completed without harming any four-legged pups!

Not only would this new technology reduce the number of animals that are forced to undergo painful, potentially toxic trials, the fake liver is said to be more efficient and will help corporations shift animal testing policies in a positive manner. The fake liver has the potential to save the lives of thousands of animals and is a definite move away from the FDA’s animal testing requirements!

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