Gillian Anderson Calls On Health Minister to Fast-Track Repeat-Testing Ban

PETA supporter and X-Files star Gillian Anderson, who is currently in India filming for Gurinder Chadha’s Viceroy’s House, has penned a letter to the Indian Minister of Health & Family Welfare requesting that he quickly confirm a ban on repeat experiments on animals in toxicity tests by amending the Drugs and Cosmetics Rules, 1945. This move is expected to spare the lives of thousands of animals each year.

The Drugs Technical Advisory Board (DTAB) recommended a ban on repeat experiments on animals in toxicity tests for drugs that are already approved abroad, but an amendment of the Drugs and Cosmetics Rules, 1945 would be required to bring the ban into law.

The Indian Investigational New Drug division of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare deliberated on this issue and advised DTAB to “encourage the use of other alternative methods than animal studies, wherever such robust validated methods are available for small or large animals”.

Because of the vast physiological differences between humans and the animals used in these tests, the results are often misleading, but regulators still typically require animal tests for drugs.

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