PETA's Vital Work

PETA condemns the use of animals in laboratories, where they’re kept in barren cages, scared out of their wits, subjected to painful procedures, and denied any happiness or comfort. In 2021, we achieved these milestones:

• We submitted complaints to federal agencies after documenting the abuse of nearly 2,000 monkeys at the Wisconsin National Primate Research Center. A PETA undercover investigation found that primates were neglected, driven mad by confinement, and attacked by their traumatized cagemates.
• After meeting with PETA scientists, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency conducted a scientific analysis and announced a policy that the agency says will spare approximately 750 rats, rabbits, or guinea pigs the agony of tests in which pesticides are applied to their skin each year.
• PETA scientists persuaded biopharmaceutical company Amgen to ban the meaningless forced swim test, in which small, terrified animals paddle frantically in inescapable beakers of water, trying to keep from drowning.
• Following our recommendation, the Taiwan Food and Drug Administration removed requirements for drowning and electroshock tests on animals for companies attempting to make anti-fatigue health claims to market their food and beverages and updated its testing regulation for health foods to prioritize non-animal test methods. We also persuaded Standard Foods Group—the largest health food company in Taiwan—to become Taiwan’s first major food and beverage company to ban animal tests not required by law. Another huge health food company in Taiwan, Vitalon Foods Group, quickly followed suit by banning these cruel tests.
• The Chinese government will now allow companies to market most imported “general cosmetics”—such as shampoo, body wash, and makeup—without the usual required animal testing. The announcement came after PETA had awarded grants for scientists to travel to China to offer training in replacing cruel, unreliable animal tests.
• After hearing from more than 85,000 PETA supporters, the Hass Avocado Board adopted a policy stating that it “does not support, fund, or conduct animal research.” The policy ends experiments on animals, including force-feeding mice then starving and suffocating them.
• PETA scientists gave a presentation on non-animal tests at the world’s largest toxicology conference, including co-chairing a session. They won an award for a poster explaining ways to predict whether a chemical will cause cancer without testing on mice or rats.
• We persuaded Aurora Sinai Medical Center in Milwaukee to stop having its residents practice reproductive surgical procedures on live pigs and instead to switch to modern, animal-free surgical training options.
• PETA filed a first-of-its-kind bill of attainder lawsuit on behalf of owls used in experiments at Johns Hopkins University. If the groundbreaking lawsuit succeeds, it would abolish the Helms Amendment, which excludes birds, mice, and rats bred for laboratories from protections under the federal Animal Welfare Act.
• We launched Without Consent, an eye-opening exhibit featuring two 7-foot-by-7-foot cubes that bear concise descriptions and photographs of nearly 200 animal experiments conducted from the 1920s through today. The exhibit was displayed in several cities and all summer long at the National Mall in Washington, D.C.

We engaged celebrities James Cromwell, Casey Affleck, Edie Falco, and Evanna Lynch in our campaigns to expose cruel experiments on animals.