Education
Animal rights groups oppose India’s draft rules on laboratory experiments – EnviroNews
– Advertisement –
Animal rights organisations and activists have called on the Indian government to withdraw proposed regulations on scientific experiments involving animals, warning that the changes could weaken oversight, increase animal suffering and expose stray and wild animals to laboratory use.
The concerns follow the release of the draft Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (Control and Supervision of Experiment, Breeding and Trading of Laboratory Animals) Rules, 2026, which is open for public comments until November 5, 2026.
The proposed regulations update existing standards governing animal experimentation in India. However, animal welfare advocates argue that several provisions could reduce regulatory supervision and make it easier for research institutions to conduct experiments without adequate safeguards.
Among the most contentious proposals is a provision allowing institutions to approve and conduct experiments classified as involving mild or moderate suffering on their own, without obtaining prior permission from the central regulatory authority.
The draft would also allow institutions and laboratories to procure animals from open markets rather than exclusively from registered and regulated breeders or sources.
In addition, laboratories would be responsible for determining the severity of pain associated with experiments, including whether procedures fall into mild, moderate, severe or non-recovery categories.
Critics say these changes could weaken independent oversight and create opportunities for animal abuse, particularly where animals are obtained from unregulated sources.
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) India has raised concerns about provisions that could allow authorities to exempt researchers from taking measures to minimise the suffering of wild animals found injured or unwell during or after capture.
Anjana Aggarwal, PETA India’s scientist and research policy adviser, warned that the proposals could place both wildlife and community animals at risk.
“India’s forests must not become a source of animals for laboratories, and our community dogs and cats must never be treated as disposable experimental subjects,” Aggarwal said.
Indian politician and animal rights activist, Maneka Gandhi, also criticised the proposed shift towards institutional self-regulation, arguing that experiments classified as mild or moderate account for a substantial proportion of animal research.
“Since ‘mild and moderate’ categories often make up the bulk of experiments, we are effectively handing over most of animal experimentation in India to self-regulation,” Gandhi said.
She further warned that allowing laboratories to obtain animals from open markets and unregistered sources could increase demand for animals captured from streets and the wild.
“Once you allow open markets and unregistered sources for cattle, goats, birds and fish, you create a demand, and in this country, demand is met very quickly by people who will pick up anything,” she said.
Gandhi expressed concern that stray animals, lost pets and birds obtained through illegal markets could end up in laboratories under the proposed arrangements.
She also questioned the draft’s reference to permission from a “competent authority” for the use of stray and wild animals, arguing that it did not clearly identify the authority responsible for granting such approval.
“These exceptions should be removed completely. If a lab cannot get an animal from a registered source, it should not be doing that experiment,” she added.
Animal welfare organisations across India have been writing to the Committee for Control and Supervision of Experiments on Animals (CCSEA), urging it to issue a revised draft that addresses their concerns.
The campaign has also gained traction on social media, with content creators producing videos and circulating sample letters to help citizens submit objections and recommendations before the November 5 deadline.
Actor John Abraham has joined the campaign, using Instagram to call for the adoption of modern scientific approaches that do not rely on animal experimentation.
“India is already advancing modern, non-animal science. We must move forward, not backwards,” Abraham said.
The campaigners argue that the proposed changes run counter to the growing international movement towards alternative scientific methods that reduce or eliminate the use of animals in research.
They are calling for stronger regulatory safeguards, tighter controls on the sourcing of laboratory animals and greater protection for animals used in scientific experiments.
With the public consultation deadline approaching, animal welfare advocates are urging citizens to submit objections to the CCSEA and press the government to reconsider provisions they believe could undermine animal protection standards.
The controversy has brought renewed attention to the balance between scientific research and animal welfare, as campaigners push for a regulatory framework that supports scientific progress without compromising safeguards against unnecessary animal suffering.
