Here’s a roundup of the week’s biggest news stories related to animal research — all the recent media coverage you need to know right now to be the most effective activist for animals in labs.
Ridglan Nabs Industry Insider to (Re)Shape Its “Story”
Rise for Animals, 9/23/2025
One of the animal research industry’s most seasoned spin doctors, Jim Newman, is now working to rehabilitate the image of one of its most disgraced actors, Ridglan Farms. 📰 Full Story →
The HEARTS Act of 2025
Rise for Animals, 9/24/2025
The Humane and Existing Alternatives in Research and Testing Sciences Act of 2025 (H.R. 1291) — also known as the “HEARTS Act of 2025” — is a bill that has the power to accelerate a long-overdue shift away from animal experimentation and toward human-relevant science. 📰 Full Story →
White House slashes medical research on monkeys and other animal testing sparking fierce new debate
Madeleine May, Jim Axelrod, & Marilyn Thompson, CBS Evening News, 9/23/2025
“The Trump administration has canceled nearly $28 million of federal grants for animal testing as major federal health agencies are phasing out research on live animals in favor of new alternatives, a joint investigation by CBS News and The Post and Courier of Charleston, South Carolina, has found.”
“The pressure for change comes from an unlikely coalition of animal rights activists and bipartisan members of Congress who want to halt what animal rights groups estimate as $20 billion a year in federal spending for animal experiments.” 📰 Full Story →
Could the Fight Against Animal Testing Help Farm Animals? Some Advocates Are Shifting Tactics
Jessica Scott-Reid, Sentient, 9/22/2025
“Animal advocates have long lobbied for policies to reduce the number of animals used in lab research. But the movement has found particular success in the second Trump administration with a strategy that highlights economic savings as well as the plight of animals.”
“ . . . a number of farm animal advocates [are] looking to apply this tactic to farm animals” on the basis that “the same approach to cost cutting can also be applied to the billions of dollars doled out by the USDA in the form of farm subsidies . . . ‘Subsidizing the production of dairy, eggs, and meat is undoubtedly a waste that harms animals and humans,’ . . . ‘It should end.’” 📰 Full Story →
NIH earmarks $87M for new organoid center as pivot away from animal testing continues
Darren Incorvaia, Fierce Biotech, 9/25/2025
“The National Institutes of Health is continuing its mission to reduce the use of animals in drug testing by awarding $87 million in contracts to launch the Standardized Organoid Modeling (SOM) Center, the agency announced in a Sept. 25 release.”
“‘By creating standardized, reproduceable and accessible organoid models, we will accelerate drug discovery and translational science, offering more precise tools for disease modeling, public health protection and reducing reliance on animal models,’ NIH Director Jay Bhattacharya, Ph.D., said in the release.” 📰 Full Story →
Biden’s NIH allowed experiments that implanted animals with pieces of aborted human fetuses, watchdog group claims
Alexa Lardieri, Daily Mail, 9/21/2025
“The NIH under the Biden administration funded dozens of studies that involved research on animals using human tissue from aborted fetuses, a new investigation claims . . . The grants total about $21.7 million.”
“Since 2019, [White Coat Waste] has uncovered multiple NIH-funded experiments that implanted scalps, fingers, skin, organs and other body parts from aborted fetuses into lab animals to research diseases like HIV, Parkinson’s and rare genetic conditions.”
“In response to the claims made by WCW, the NIH said in a statement to Breitbart News last week: ‘NIH takes this issue very seriously and remains committed to the highest ethical standards in research. The referenced grants, initiated under the Biden administration, will not be renewed.’” 📰 Full Story →
Numerous dogs ‘humanely sacrificed’ as test subjects at private lab in Toronto area
Robert Cribb & Jenna Olsen, University of Toronto – Investigative Journalism Bureau, 9/22/2025
“The vast majority of Canada’s leading university research labs have stopped using dogs as test subjects in scientific research . . . But pharmaceutical testing on dogs continues in lesser-known, often private research firms, including a large Scarborough research facility where the animals undergo sometimes invasive — and fatal — experimentation.”
“Nucro-Technics Inc., which bills itself as Canada’s largest contract research organization (CRO), conducts studies using dogs — including heart research — in a 60,000-square-foot facility with more than 170 scientific support personnel involved in chemistry, microbiology and toxicology testing. The company performs ‘cardiopulmonary safety evaluation [a type of drug safety testing] in dogs’ according to its website. A review of published studies involving Nucro-Technics detail dogs studied with varying degrees of invasiveness.”
“Nucro-Technics is part of a much broader dog research regime in Canada, with more than 16,000 dogs used for experimentation last year. That figure is about double the number used for all of the European Union in 2022. And the real number of dogs used in Canadian scientific research could be much higher. Private animal research — which is not reliant on federal funding — is off the public radar, making the true number of dogs used in research unknowable.” 📰 Full Story →
Wisconsin dog breeder rejects $55K fine; disputes animal welfare violations
Bryan Polcyn, FOX6 Milwaukee, 09/22/2025
“A controversial Dane County dog breeder says it did not allow unlicensed employees to perform painful surgeries on beagles – or if they did, regulations allowed for it.”
“Officials asked Ridglan Farms to agree to 311 violations of state animal welfare regulations and pay a $55,000 fine. DATCP officials said the violations relate to three injured animals noted during inspections and more than 300 so-called cherry eye surgeries performed by employees who were not licensed veterinarians.”
“Ridglan Farms said they believed the surgeries were legal because the animals involved are research animals, not breeding animals – and research animals have a lower standard of what constitutes humane treatment. That could be important [sic] point in the legal challenges facing Ridglan going forward.” 📰 Full Story →
MEPs and NGOs Tell European Commission to Protect Bans on Animal Testing for Cosmetics
vegconomist, 9/23/2025
“Nine MEPs and 14 animal protection NGOs have signed an open letter to the European Commission, highlighting the importance of protecting European bans on animal testing for cosmetics.”
“The open letter has been written in response to the EU’s plans to revise the Cosmetics Product Regulation (CPR). Cruelty Free Europe, which co-ordinated the writing and signing of the letter, warns that this could lead to a weakening of bans on animal testing for cosmetics. The organisation has also expressed concern about the revision of the main EU chemicals law, REACH, since the animal testing requirements set out in these regulations have been given precedence over the CPR.” 📰 Full Story →
A New Bill’s Bid to Bring Better Sunscreens
Claudia Lopez Lloreda, Undark, 9/22/2025
“The sunscreen market in the United States has remained largely stagnant for the past 25 years, as many skincare and cosmetic companies have failed to get new active ingredients approved. Legislation recently introduced in the House of Representatives and the Senate seeks to change that. Both versions of the bill, called the SAFE Sunscreen Standards Act, were introduced by a bipartisan group of lawmakers who say that consumers need more effective sunscreens to help prevent skin cancer.”
“To modernize the market, the new bill aims to change some requirements, such as encouraging alternatives to animal testing, and ease an approval process that many experts call overly restrictive.”
“The Senate’s Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee already voted to advance a legislation package that includes the SAFE Sunscreen Standards Act. In the House, the bill has been referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, which will review the legislation and make suggested amendments if necessary.” 📰 Full Story →
☀️ Urge your Representative to support the SAFE Sunscreen Standards Act. Take action now.
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