John Olexa
July 18th, 2006, 03:56 PM
By Amy Doolittle
The Washington Times
PETA, One Of the World's most confrontational animal rights groups is quiety researching product and chemical testing methods with the aim of making animal-based tests obsolete.
The research,said Jessica Sandler, director of regulatory testing for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, focuses on a system owned by the California-based Hurel Corp.
The medical technology, she and other PETA officials said,includes a biochip that allows scientist to fill tiny channels with cells from various human organs and then test products.
"You can test a drug on a whole system and the drug encounters human cells in the same order they would encounter them in the human body" Miss Sandler said.
The Hurel techology, combined with other ideas based on human cells, allowed PETA to design product-testing methods that do not harm animals.
Researcg shows that cellbased tests are more accurate then traditional animal tests, Miss Sandler said.
"Animal test are so frequently subject to manipulation that the results can be used to support whichever position you want to support" she said.
"The non-animal method, the cell test method has an 80% accuracy to humans, whereas with animal test, you might as well flip a coin" " Were looking at a fundamentally flawed system. 92 out of every 100 drugs that pass animal test, fail in humans Miss Sandler said.
Human -based tests also can cost up to $20,000 less then animal -based methods, she said.
" The good thing about non-animal testing is not only is it faster and cheaper,they also benefit human health" Miss Sandler said. " Lets say you didn't care about animal testings at all and that it hurts animals, presumably you'd still use the test thats going to be more accurate and more relevant to humans".
PETA says it donates millions of dollars a year to organizations that perform non-animal testing. Its own scientific research and related giving rarely evoke much discussion outside the animal rights group.
" I work on issues that aren't flamboyant or sexy or easily dumbed down" Miss Sandlers said. " They're basically serious scientific issues that serious scientist are working on."
The Washington Times
PETA, One Of the World's most confrontational animal rights groups is quiety researching product and chemical testing methods with the aim of making animal-based tests obsolete.
The research,said Jessica Sandler, director of regulatory testing for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, focuses on a system owned by the California-based Hurel Corp.
The medical technology, she and other PETA officials said,includes a biochip that allows scientist to fill tiny channels with cells from various human organs and then test products.
"You can test a drug on a whole system and the drug encounters human cells in the same order they would encounter them in the human body" Miss Sandler said.
The Hurel techology, combined with other ideas based on human cells, allowed PETA to design product-testing methods that do not harm animals.
Researcg shows that cellbased tests are more accurate then traditional animal tests, Miss Sandler said.
"Animal test are so frequently subject to manipulation that the results can be used to support whichever position you want to support" she said.
"The non-animal method, the cell test method has an 80% accuracy to humans, whereas with animal test, you might as well flip a coin" " Were looking at a fundamentally flawed system. 92 out of every 100 drugs that pass animal test, fail in humans Miss Sandler said.
Human -based tests also can cost up to $20,000 less then animal -based methods, she said.
" The good thing about non-animal testing is not only is it faster and cheaper,they also benefit human health" Miss Sandler said. " Lets say you didn't care about animal testings at all and that it hurts animals, presumably you'd still use the test thats going to be more accurate and more relevant to humans".
PETA says it donates millions of dollars a year to organizations that perform non-animal testing. Its own scientific research and related giving rarely evoke much discussion outside the animal rights group.
" I work on issues that aren't flamboyant or sexy or easily dumbed down" Miss Sandlers said. " They're basically serious scientific issues that serious scientist are working on."