In Memory of Dr Dipti Kapoor, PETA India’s Science Policy Adviser

Dr Dipti Kapoor was a firebrand for animal rights. She helped modernise science and save the lives of millions of animals who would otherwise have been used in cruel tests.

• She was fiercely passionate about her work to replace the use of horses and other equines in antitoxin production. She partnered closely with her colleagues at PETA affiliates to demonstrate to researchers in India and around the world that animal-free methods can be used to produce life-saving treatments for diphtheria, venomous spider bites, and other conditions.
• She was instrumental in getting the notorious Draize test, in which rabbits were restrained while chemicals were applied to their eyes or shaved skin, banned in India. Now, instead, non-animal test methods are being used.
• She achieved a huge victory for animals by persuading India’s Central Insecticide Board and Registration Committee to make significant changes to a guidance document, resulting in increased acceptance of non-animal testing methods for pesticides.
• Following her persistent efforts, the abnormal toxicity test, in which animals are injected with a vaccine or other medicine to test its potential toxicity, was removed from the Indian Pharmacopoeia, sparing thousands of guinea pigs and mice this notorious, flawed test.
• Through her regular interactions with the Indian Pharmacopoeia Commission, she was instrumental in persuading regulators to propose to reduce required tests on cows, rabbits, and other animals for the production of drugs and for the development of test methods for assessing drugs.
• Her recommendations prompted the Bureau of Indian Standards to replace a test on guinea pigs used for detecting and identifying anthrax contamination with humane microbiological methods, sparing countless gentle guinea pigs excruciatingly painful deaths.

Dipti was also as fun and beloved by her colleagues as she was bold and intelligent.

Animals have lost a champion, and we have lost a dear friend. In honour of her memory, and for the animals she cared for deeply, we, her colleagues at PETA India and our international affiliates, will vigorously continue her efforts to end animal tests in ways which would have made her proud.

A True Friends Memorial page has been set up to allow interested persons to contribute to preventing horses and other equines from being used in antitoxin production – an effort that was close to Dipti’s heart.

You will be dearly missed!