The federal government has taken a major step toward ending the kind of taxpayer-funded animal experiments that outraged Americans when gruesome beagle testing under Anthony Faucis watch first came to light.
According to the Blaze, the Environmental Protection Agency on Tuesday announced a significant expansion of its approved list of cutting-edge non-animal testing methods, advancing a goal first set under President Donald Trump to phase out all mammalian testing by 2035. The move follows the 2021 revelations by the government watchdog White Coat Waste Project about federally funded beagle experiments overseen by thenNational Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director Anthony Fauci, which triggered a nationwide backlash against animal experimentation. The solution is simple: Stop the money. Stop the madness!
The EPA said it is adding 13 new approach methods, or NAMs, to its roster of approved alternatives to animal studies, with a particular focus on sparing vertebrate mammals such as rabbits, mice, rats, and dogs. The agency describes NAMs as high-quality alternatives that can replace or sharply reduce the need for live-animal testing while still providing robust safety data for chemicals and pesticides.
The Toxic Substances Control Act directs EPA to use NAMs whenever scientifically appropriate when evaluating chemicals, and to reduce, refine, or replace vertebrate mammal testing, the agencys press release stated. Modern NAMs, including human cell models and advanced computer-based methods, help EPA identify hazards and exposures faster and often with results that are more relevant to people, not laboratory animals.
Regulators argued that these alternative tools not only spare animals but also cut costs and speed up reviews, all while yielding data that better reflect how chemicals interact with the human body. The initiative, the EPA added, opens the door for innovators to bring the next generation of tools to the table, signaling a preference for private-sector ingenuity over outdated bureaucratic mandates.
Among the newly endorsed methods are a test to evaluate eye hazards using reconstructed human cells and a process to assess phototoxicity with a 3D human cell-based tissue model. The agency also cited a combined in-chemico and in-vitro approach to identify potential dermal sensitization hazard, dermal sensitization potency, and a quantitative point-of-departure.
Tuesdays announcement is the first expansion of the EPAs NAMs list since 2021, underscoring how slowly the federal bureaucracy tends to move without sustained political pressure. The agency simultaneously unveiled a streamlined process allowing industry stakeholders to nominate additional NAMs for use in pesticide and chemical assessments, a change that could further empower private researchers and companies to drive scientific progress.
While the original 2035 phase-out target was set during Trumps first term, the EPA acknowledged that the Biden administration quietly scrapped those deadlines, stalling momentum. Todays actions get that progress back on track, the agency declared, effectively conceding that the prior White House had reversed course on a popular, bipartisan reform.
The EPA further reported that the Trump administration had already achieved measurable gains toward ending mammalian testing, including launching the agencys first lab animal adoption program in April 2025. It also cited the use of alternative methods in cancer evaluations for dibutyl phthalate and di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate, which prevented an estimated 1,600 mice and rats from undergoing experiments.
When the Trump administration makes a commitment, we deliver. With todays announcement, were accelerating the shift to modern, gold-standard science without the use of animal testing by using new, innovative methods to review chemicals, EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin stated. By broadening high-quality alternatives and inviting strong new candidates, we can deliver faster, more protective decisions while reducing animal testing.
Anthony Bellotti, founder and president of White Coat Waste, praised Zeldin and the EPA for reviving the Trump-era commitment that had been shelved under President Biden. Earlier this year, White Coat Waste proudly joined EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin to restore the historic Trump-era plan to phase out animal testing by 2035 after we exposed how the Biden administration quietly scrapped it behind closed doors, Bellotti said in a statement provided to Blaze News.
Bellotti noted that WCW is working with Rep. Michael Cloud (R-Texas) to eliminate outdated EPA red tape that forces companies to poison puppies in expensive, ineffective, government-mandated pesticide and chemical tests. He was referring to the Fiscal Year 27 Interior-EPA Appropriations bill, which contains WCW-backed language to defund dog-testing mandates for pesticides and chemicals and is slated for a House vote on Wednesday.
Taxpayers shouldnt be forced to bankroll big-government bureaucrats who mandate beagle torture, butcher bunnies, force animals to inhale firearm emissions in bizarre gun-control experiments, or make animals eat lard and breathe smog, Bellotti continued. The solution is simple: Stop the money. Stop the madness!
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