Report Card Grades » U.S. Public Interest Research Group » Grade: C-

PETA wrote to the U.S. Public Interest Research Group to determine its position on the use of animals in chemical poisoning tests and to solicit its endorsement of a statement:

• calling on EPA to increase its funding and use of non-animal test methods; and
• endorsing the use of only those new test methods that have been rigorously assessed by the Interagency Coordinating Committee for the Validation of Alternative Methods and found to be scientifically valid.

The U.S. PIRG has also supported the extensive use of animal-testing, including signing on to a joint letter calling for the use of nonvalidated animal test methods such as the EPA’s developmental neurotoxicity test (DNT). The DNT, which kills between 1,200 and 2,500 animals every time it is performed, involves poisoning rats with toxic chemicals throughout their pregnancy and while they nurse their newborn pups. The pups are then subjected to a series of behavioral tests, after which they are killed and their brains are examined. Shockingly, EPA officials have publicly admitted that the rat is not "the right model" for humans and that they do not even know how to interpret the results of the DNT. Click here to download PETA’s DNT factsheet.

What You Can Do
Please send polite letters urging the U.S. PIRG to withdraw its support for animal-testing. Click here for points you can include in your letter. Send letters to:

Andre Delattre, Executive Director
U.S. Public Interest Research Group
218 D Street SE
Washington, DC 20003-1900
202-546-2461 (fax)
andre@pirg.org