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MOVIE › Multi-Billion Dollar Lie
better science: human-focused
better science: human-focused
Progress Stalled: Drug recalls, failed treatments, adverse reactions, no cures. Animal experiments harm humans.
The animal model presumes an effect in one species occurs in another. Yet science says genetic, metabolic, physiological and psychological traits vary significantly from species to species. A drug metabolized in a pig, dog or mouse doesn't look like the same drug in a person. Physiological pathways are unique in each species. In The Flaws and Human Harms of Animal Experimentation(NIH),9 author Aysha Akhtar footnotes myriad treatments that fail in humans due to “disparities between the animal experimental model and the human condition.”10
The Multi-Billion Dollar LieTax-Funded Cruelty. The film offers facts and tactics to argue for expedited use of human-focused research. Medical progress — real cures for human conditions — remains stalled until the research industry fully shifts from animal experiments to human-relevant science.
Biotechnology Has Evolved. With human-focused cellular, genomic and computational tools, bioscience, researchers don't need to extrapolate info from animals to people. Guesstimates give way to more predictive science. But “financial investment in human-based tech generally falls far short of investment in animal experimentation.”16,9 Funding is vital to engineer and validate animal-free systems, plus advance models that simulate entire-body function (not just lone cells or organs). Animal-free research is not “alternative,” a word that implies animal tests are the “gold standard,” while human-related tools are less sophisticated. In fact, the reverse is true.
Government Excess, Taxpayer Cost, Big Pharma Rip-Off. If data from animals artificially induced with human disease/injury is non-predictive and misleads experimenters with false conclusions — why are billions still squandered on profound cruelty and bad science? U.S. government annually spends some $15 to $18 billion or more on animal research. Yet the animal model renders only 10% of new pharma products “safe” for market.1 Additionally, National Institutes Of Health (NIH) awards some $2.2 billion in contracts or grants to foreign entities for animal lab projects in 10 countries.2 Money is squandered on duplication of the same animal tests. “Right now, the private sector does half as much animal testing as government and taxpayer-funded university labs, but is responsible for 85% of FDA-approved medical innovations. This is just one example of inefficiency and waste in government-funded animal experiments.”3 By some estimates, U.S. agencies exhaust 50% of research funds on old-fashioned animal experiments — even though 89% of animal labs are not reproducible, a basic scientific tenet.4
Be The Soundbite That Roars. To out-yell apathy, you gotta get heard. Gain attention. And instigate action. But the world is noisy, a complex soup of social, political and psychological chaos. How do you get people to care about animal experimentation, a back-seat topic that many regard as “necessary” and too disturbing to talk about?
Human-Focused Research = Progress For People. A key way to draw people into the discussion? Focus on the human cost of animal testing. Repeat polls and studies pinpoint the federal budget deficit, inflation, affordability of healthcare, and the economy as top concerns on American minds. A Statista February 2025 survey reveals inflation and prices as urgent to 24% of Americans, with another 12% most worried about jobs and economy. Animal testing wastes taxpayer dollars, time and resources that could be better spent on human-based technology.
For example, experimenters say repetition leads to answers. Funding the same experiments over and over, for decades, is a hard sell — given the lack of human cures from animals induced with disease/injury in settings humans never encounter. Animals exist in perpetual distress from handling, confinement, noise, isolation, pain, fear… Stress hormones influence animal data.5 Moreover, duplicative animal tests fail to generate consistent info. One study reveals that 47 of 53 landmark findings can't even be reproduced! “It was shocking. Pharmaceutical industry relies on these findings,” says Glenn Begley, former head of global cancer research at Amgen. Failure is blamed, in part, on animal models irrelevant to cancer and other diseases, in an arena that fosters poor science and fraud as researchers fight for funds.6 A benefit-cost ratio of animal testing delivers a negative net value when ethics, welfare, fiscal expenses, and critically, measurable success (usable outcomes, medical breakthroughs, cures, etc) are considered.
FRAME ANIMAL RESEARCH AS A POLITICAL ISSUE. The animal research industry reflects basic tenets of a political issue.
NEUTRAL ISSUES. Government regulated areas and their impact on society:
Food & Drug Safety
Biotechnology
Environmental Protection, etc.
PARTISAN ISSUES. Behavior driven by self-serving objectives:
Mega-Profit Pharmaceutical Industry
Grant-Driven Medical Research
Quick-To-Market Consumer Products
CORRUPTION. Issues linked to legislative or commercial power-grabs (for financial gain and dominance) that harm the greater society for which they exist.
You Paid For ItAcademic Animal Research. Universities themselves concede that a highly competitive grant culture creates pressure for experimenters to churn out protocols, regardless of existing data or scientific validity. Each year, schools receive millions that help pay utility bills and other overhead unrelated to research. Quick money comes from animals, not clinical or cell-line studies. A weak economy only heightens contests, with universities vying for a grant pool reduced by federal spending cuts.
Big Pharma Reaps Rewards From Tax-Funded Grants Too. “Big Pharma and an academic institution agree jointly on which projects to fund, and in return for financing, companies get first option to commercialize results.” Million-dollar liaisons with academia have flourished as more universities seek to evolve scholastic research into product. “Universities are [always] looking for new sources of funding. These factors dovetail nicely with Big Pharma's needs.” In fact, Pharma's capacity to invest tens of millions has resulted in joint steering committees that pick which academic research gets funding.7. Just how much does Big Pharma reap in profits? Globally, revenues are roughly 1.6 trillion U.S. dollars in 2023, “comparable to the gross domestic products (GDPs) of countries like Spain, Mexico, or Australia.”8 Estimates for 2024 boost the U.S. pharmaceutical market to $639.22 billion. By 2033, U.S. pharma revenue is calculated to reach 1,093.79 billion.11
An astonishing 90-95% of drugs that pass animal tests go on to fail in human clinical trials.12
It is essential that FDA be proactive in using the most predictive scientific methods in its decision-making. Human-centric techniques such as organs-on-a-chip and organoids are developing rapidly and have the potential to improve, and even accelerate, bringing safe and effective products to the market. This legislation will focus FDA's attention where it needs to be — improving regulations that will lead to better treatments, more cures.
Paul A. Locke, JD, DrPH, professor, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
Animal tests are inaccurate predictors of human response to medicines.
FDA's exclusive reliance on animal testing produced irrecuperable delays in the development of medicines, missed opportunities due to misguided regulatory principles, and exorbitant costs ultimately passed onto consumers. FDAMA 3.0 helps wean America from its dependency on artificial animal models — which proved to be misleading, distracting, and utterly unwise investments. It also asserts that human-relevant, technology-driven approaches must be the cornerstone of our drug development paradigm.
Dr. Zaher Nahle, senior scientific advisor for the Center for a Humane Economy and Animal Wellness Action
Animal Testing »Harms Humans. Animal labs help speed new drugs from lab to clinical trials to market, often with unforeseen outcomes. The FDA cites Adverse Drug Reactions as the fourth leading cause of U.S. death. In hospitals, some 6.7% of patients experience ADRs, with 0.32% who die. This means over 2,216,000 people annually suffer ADR disability and 106,000 die. As the fourth top cause of death, ADRs surpass pulmonary disease, diabetes, AIDS, pneumonia, accidents, and automobile deaths. A precise ADR stat is unknown. Worldwide, ADRs are estimated at fourth to sixth place for cause of death. Animal-tested drugs now compete with heart disease, cancer and stroke — the very diseases they seek to cure — in “prevalent causes of mortality.”13
Wasted Time And Money. Animal experiments delay medical advancement with deceptive info that can't be extrapolated from animals to people. A drug's route from discovery to market can last 12 to 30 years, with just “1 in 5000 new compounds approved as pharmaceutical drugs.”14 Moreover, bad animal data cancels drugs that could save people. Valuable therapeutics for humans are discarded if unsuccessful in animals. “Treatments that fail to work or show some adverse effect in animals may be abandoned, even if they may have proved effective and safe in humans if allowed through the drug pipeline.”9
FDA Stalls Human-Beneficial Research. In 2022 the FDA Modernization Act 2.0 ended a 1938 federal mandate to test all pharma goods on animals prior to human trials. The new law emphasizes human-focused tools, with $5 million earmarked for FDA's New Alternative Methods Program. It doesn't ban animal experiments, but green-lights methods such as as microfluidic chips and miniature tissue models as viable pathways to market. Yet by 2025 FDA has still not upgraded its policies. A rare bipartisan bill, FDA Modernization Act 3.0 seeks to modernize medical science for better healthcare by way of superior, safe, and affordable therapeutics.12 “It's been over two years since Congress ended the statutory mandate that investigational new drugs (INDs) undergo mandatory animal testing before human clinical trials,” says Senator Corey Booker, who co-drafted the Senate bill. “We cannot allow the FDA to continue to delay on implementing this critical law.”15 Follow progress on FDAMA in the U.S. House, H.R. 7248, and in the Senate, S.5046.
A Better Way
HUMAN-FOCUSED RESEARCH
A Better Way
HUMAN-FOCUS RESEARCH
Lab-Grown Human OrgansOrganoids, a 3D in vitro cellular complex, come from pluripotent stem cells and adult stem cells. Organoids mirror authentic organs in formation, cellular structure, organ-wide configuration and critically, physiological actions. Brain, intestine, lung, liver and more organs can be grown inside labs to replace animal experiments for basic research, drug testing… “The field of organoid research is regarded as an offshoot of stem cell research. The advent of induced pluripotent stem cells and supportive tech advances such as clonal culture and CRISPR/Cas9-based genetic manipulation herald a new way of undertaking biological research and applying outcomes.”17
Microfluidics ChipsMicroarray tech, a human-based lab tool, binds an array “to a solid surface. The chip is then bathed with DNA or RNA isolated from a study sample (cells or tissue). Chips are used for myriad purposes, such as measuring gene expression and detecting DNA sequences.”18 IE, containers on a 2-cm wide chip each hold a tissue specimen. A test compound is added to a blood surrogate that circulates via mircrochannels for small-scale replication of the body's response. Chip sensors relay data for computer analysis.
Organs-On-Chips“OoCs systems use engineered or natural miniature tissues grown inside microfluidic chips.” To emulate human physiology, chips regulate cell microenvironments and retain tissue-distinct roles.19 “The chip's goal is to lessen dependence on animal tests and decrease time and cost for developing drugs.” Instead of animal models, organ chips test chemicals and meds on human tissues, negating any errors.
3D-Printed OrgansSkin, bones, muscles, blood vessels, retinal tissue and some small-scale organs have already been 3D bioprinted. The technology harnesses a person's own cells to cultivate organs, and could save those who languish on organ donor lists. Right now, 3D bioprints can safety-test cardiac drugs in place of animal experiments. Another ALS-on-a-chip design explores remedies and causes of this little understood disease.20
Cognitive ComputingSystems that mimic human cognition employ Artificial Intelligence, data mining, machine learning and natural language processing — gleaned from real-time info. Vast folios of data are studied to broaden clinician insight for patient-specific treatments. Cognitive computing streamlines data for timely application. This speeds medical research, without time and money wasted on duplicative animal experiments.21
Human Toxome ProjectU.S. EPA tests chemicals for their capacity to act as endocrine disruptors. Some chemicals disturb hormone function, damaging animal growth and reproduction. Some 80,000 animals are killed in EPA toxicity screens, an “expensive, time-consuming and exorbitant use of animals” The Human Toxome Project, funded via NIH grant, advances animal-free modes to “deduce, validate and share molecular pathways of toxicity (PoT)”. A PoT public database could become the roadmap for toxicological research and regulatory testing.22
Genomics & BioinformaticsGenomics evaluates full genetic composition of an organism's genes (the genome) to learn the structure, function and evolution of genetic info. Bioinformatics, sophisticated computing and math, enables researchers to study huge quantities of DNA-sequence data to find variances that impact human health, disease or drug effects. Assimilation of informatics with genomic input can reveal data on entire populations and origins of disease. It can also better predict a treatment's efficacy or adversity, minus faulty animal experiments.23
DNA ChipsGenes or DNA fragments on a glass slide interact with a test drug to reveal which genes are activated or depressed. DNA chips facilitate an individualized medicine concept based on each person's different genetic blueprint. Scientists now do sweeping population studies I.E., to project frequency of breast cancer in individuals with a specific mutation or pinpoint gene sequence changes most ofen linked with certain diseases. “Microarrays can also be used to study the extent to which certain genes are turned on or off in cells and tissues.”24
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TRANSCRIPTMore Human-Focused Research Tools
Human Tissue AnalysisAnimal response to a drug often fails to match that drug's interaction in people. Human tissue, sourced from surgical residual and biopsy materials or transplant tissue (via patient donors), facilitates human-based research on side effects prior to clinical trials.25 “In human tissue, we'll find answers to Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and other neurodegenerative diseases” (Dr. John Xuereb, Director, Cambridge Brain Bank and Wolfson Brain Imaging Centre). All viable data about HIV/AIDS, plus usable info on Alzheimer's and Parkinson's, comes from patient tissue analysis.
Computer ModelingA virtual human foretells drug metabolism and metabolite interaction for any organ. Computer modeling enables the molecular architecture of drugs to hone in on specific receptors. In mere minutes, scientists can reproduce experiments in silico to gain insight that takes years in a lab. During the COVID-19 pandemic a safe vaccine was needed quickly, casting light on the sluggish, inconclusive nature of animal tests. At the pandemic's apex, FDA analyzed computer simulations of acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) from COVID-19 infection. “Based on our data, FDA approved an efficacy trial with a major pharma company without any animal models,” says David Harel, CytoReason CEO in Tel Aviv, Israel. Harel notes that computer models “can generate better predictions than animal models” and are “faster, cheaper, more accurate.”26
Advanced Magnetic Resonance ImagingMRI imaging tools — Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Diffusion-Weighted Imaging MRI (DWI), Dynamic Contrast-Enhanced-MRI (DCE-MRI), BOLD-MRI, MR Spectroscopy (MRS), Radiomics — assess tissue pathologies “from degenerative and inflammatory diseases to cancer.” A pioneering field uses MRI to “exploit the diagnostic and therapeutic capabilities of nanocompounds.” Imaging tools retrieve info on nanconstructs and how they interact with diseases like cancer. “Nanoparticles allow the delivery of therapeutic agents to a target point… with antibody, peptide, or protein coatings that connect specifically to the surfaces of cancer cells.”27
More Human-Focused ToolsMany tools based in human biology have been around awhile, but are under-used. Functional In Vitro uses human-derived cells, cell lines, or cellular components to analyze cells and tissue. Microdosing assesses human metabolism data (metabolomics) for safe human trials earlier in product development. Autopsy/Biopsy analyzes full-body disease impacts post-mortem and amends common misdiagnoses. Epidemiology traces parallels within populations and has linked tobacco to cancer; cholesterol to heart disease; pregnancy folic acid deficit to spina bifida… Stem Cell Research, ethically sourced from donated adult and umbilical cord cells, has already remedied some cases of leukemia, heart attack recovery, Parkinson's. Post-Market Drug Surveillance regularly tracks new medical products to identify repercussions in a faster time frame. Wide-Scale Clinical Research is key to long-term efficacy of any drug or treatment.
Huge Win For AnimalsIn 2022, the FDA Modernization Act 2.0 is signed into law! Thanks to all who answered our call to action on this bill. Since its inception, Kinship Circle has fought to replace animal experiments with human-relevant research to speed medical progress. The new law ends a requirement to test all pharma goods on animals prior to human trials. Companies may now use human-focused tools instead of profoundly cruel and misleading animal labs. The Act also earmarks $5 million in funding for FDA's New Alternative Methods Program. Each time you act for animals — they are seen in a world that forgets them.
If We Care… People must hear. Give animal experimentation the power of attention — by framing it in issues that matter to people:
HUMAN RIGHTS
PATIENT RIGHTS
CONSUMER RIGHTS
TAXPAYER RIGHTS
HEALTH & SAFETY CONCERN FOR ALL
Animal CrueltyIn The Multi-Billion Dollar Lie, the words “animal cruelty” are not used until the end of the movie. That is because cruelty is inherent. Cruelty is the very essence of animal experimentation.
“Experiments on animals offer only the illusion of control. By simplifying and segmenting the life of an organism, we create false data which, combined with the differences among species, make our efforts to apply the results to man, useless.”Dr. Roger E. Ulrich, Behaviorist Psychologist, ex-vivisector
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9. NIH National Library Of Medicine. Aysha Akhtar. The Flaws And Human Harms Of Animal
Experimentation. Camb Q Healthc Ethics. 2015 Oct; 24(4): 407–419. doi: 10.1017/S0963180115000079. PMCID:
PMC4594046. PMID: 26364776.
10. NIH National Library Of Medicine. van der Worp HB, Howells DW, Sena ES,
Poritt MJ, Rewell S, O’Collins V, et al. Can animal models of disease reliably inform human studies? Published online 3/30/10. doi:
10.1371/journal.pmed.1000245
16. There is no direct analysis of the amount of money spent on animal
testing versus alternatives
across all categories; however, in 2008 Chronicle of Higher Education reported that funding of research involving
animals (under basic
research) of the National Institute of Health (NIH) remained steady at about 42% since 1990. See Monastersky R. Protesters
fail to slow
animal research. Chronicle of Higher Education 2008:54. In 2012, NIH director Francis Collins noted that support for
basic research has held
steady at 54% of NIH's budget for decades. The rest of NIH's budget is heavily funded toward clinical research, suggesting
that preclinical
human-based testing methods are much less funded. See also Wadman M. NIH director grilled over translational research centre.
Nature News Blog 2012 Mar
20 (last accessed 3/5/15). No data suggests that NIH's funding of animal experimentation has decreased. A 2010 analysis
estimates that
at least 50% of NIH's extramural funding is directed into animal research; see Greek R, Greek J. Is the use of sentient animals in basic research
justifiable?Philosophy, Ethics, and Humanities in Medicine 2010;5:14.
19. Leung, C.M., de Haan, P., Ronaldson-Bouchard, K. et al. A guide to the organ-on-a-chip. Nature Reviews
Methods Primers 2, 33 (5/12/22). https://doi.org/10.1038/s43586-022-00118-6
22. Bouhifd M, Andersen ME, Baghdikian C, Boekelheide K, Crofton KM, Fornace
AJ
Jr, Kleensang A, Li H, Livi C, Maertens A, McMullen PD, Rosenberg M, Thomas R, Vantangoli M, Yager JD, Zhao L, Hartung T. The human toxome project.
ALTEX. 2015;32(2):112-24. doi: 10.14573/altex.1502091. Epub 2015 Mar 4. • (Hartung and Rovida 2009; Hartung 2011).
27. Bruno F, Granata V, Cobianchi Bellisari F, Sgalambro F, Tommasino E,
Palumbo
P, Arrigoni F, Cozzi D, Grassi F, Brunese MC, Pradella S, di S Stefano MLM, Cutolo C, Di Cesare E, Splendiani A, Giovagnoni
A,
Miele V, Grassi R, Masciocchi C, Barile A. Advanced Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) Techniques: Technical Principles and Applications in
Nanomedicine. NIH National Center For Biotechnology Information. Cancers (Basel).
3/23/22;14(7):1626. doi: 10.3390/cancers14071626.
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