Please note: this letter can only be signed by U.S. residents because of rules imposed by Congress. International signers can sign our petition here.

Last month we read about a failed clinical trial to determine if antibiotics would help treat idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, a devastating disease that causes fatal scarring in the lungs and has no cure.  The trial was based on previous studies in mice, which showed that antibiotics might be beneficial. However, the human trial showed no benefit for patients, demonstrating once more that animal experiments produce misleading and inapplicable results.

Please send a letter to Congress to pass the Humane Research & Testing Act. (H.R. 1744) to provide more funding for effective non-animal research to promote better cures and spare needless animal suffering.

Another recent human study discarded a myth, learned from decades of animal experiments, that age-related hearing loss stems from deterioration of a part of the inner ear, known as the cochlea. Hearing experiments are most often carried out on cats, gerbils, and mice, in experiments that falsely create disorders on healthy animals, turning up flawed results.

In the study, researchers at Massachusetts Eye and Ear used microscopic analysis of human inner ears obtained at autopsy and showed that the degree of hearing loss is related to the amount of hair cell loss, not cochlear damage. In their own words, the researchers stated that this study “upends the dogma” of age-related hearing loss, based on decades of animal experiments.

Since age-related hearing loss was shown to be the result of damage to inner ear sensory cells, the researchers believe it may be preventable by avoiding or diminishing environmental factors.

Once again, we see that by understanding the true causes of a disorder, clinicians can properly focus effective therapies to prevent or treat a human condition that has been falsely studied in animals.

Another myth resulting from animal research is that ibuprofen is harmful to bone fracture healing in children. In new research, scientists at the University of Missouri conducted a study with 95 children recovering from bone fractures, some of which were given ibuprofen and the others acetaminophen, as a control group.

Six weeks after surgery, children in the ibuprofen group healed better than the control group, turning this false belief on its head. This outcome is important because it indicates that NSAIDS like Ibuprofen can be used safely as a pain medication for young people in place of more dangerous narcotics.

To fund animal research is to throw money and animals’ lives into a bottomless pit of suffering and failed methods, yet the current incentives for research are focused almost exclusively on animal-based experiments.

Please urge Congress to support The Humane Research &Testing Act to provide NIH with the funding, tools and infrastructure necessary to replace animal experimentation.

Thank you for taking action today to help end the use of animals in labs!

Citizens for Alternatives to Animal Research (CAARE), is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, established to highlight and promote research without animals.

Please donate to support CAARE’s mission to reduce animal suffering by disseminating information about the power and progress of research without animals.