Mass-Produced for Science: Why Lab Animals Are Farmed Animals Too
On January 27th 2025, a new Chilean law prohibiting animal testing for cosmetic products came into effect, just over a year after it passed unanimously in the country’s Senate. Instrumental in getting this law over the line were Te Protejo.
This was a big win for animals, as Chile became the 45th country to ban cosmetic animal testing and took an important stance against unnecessary cruelty. However, the fight for animals in experimentation is far from over. Not only do the majority of countries still lack a cosmetic testing ban, but experimentation on animals for products other than cosmetics remains legal in every country in the world. For example, Article 6 of Law 20.380, Chile’s primary piece of animal protection legislation, allows experimentation on live animals for a range of purposes, namely:
Verifying a scientific hypothesis; testing a natural or synthetic product; producing substances for medical or biological use; detecting phenomena, materials or their effects; conducting educational demonstrations; performing surgical interventions; and, in general, studying and understanding animal behavior (Law No. 20.380 on the Protection of Animals, Title IV, Article 6).
This demonstrates just how broad the justifications for keeping and experimenting on animals are - there are no restrictions on what kind of “scientific hypothesis” one is looking to verify by testing on animals, nor the importance of the “phenomena” one is trying to detect. The vague language used in the legislation opens the door to a huge amount of unnecessary cruelty and suffering through animal testing, especially when there is absolutely no attempt to encourage alternative methods that don’t use animals when they are readily available. This is not a problem unique to Chile – similarly ambiguous or permissive wording can be found in animal research legislation across other countries, such as the United States, where the Animal Welfare Act excludes the majority of laboratory animals and does not mandate the use of alternatives; the United Kingdom, where researchers are able to self-justify experiments under vague definitions within the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act; and the European Union, where Directive 2010/63/EU nominally supports the use of alternatives, but is undermined by open-ended language and weak enforcement.
Whilst experiments must be performed by “qualified personnel” to “avoid unnecessary suffering”, so long as animal testing remains the default, countless lives will be unnecessarily lost.
At Animal Law Focus, our goal is to protect the lives of farmed animals, and working towards a future free of their exploitation. And whilst animals used in research are not typically thought of as farmed animals, we wholeheartedly believe that they should be. Wanting to find out more, we reached out to our friends at Te Protejo to find out more about the work they are doing, and ask whether they think of animals used in experimentation as farmed animals and why it might be useful to do so. We spoke to Daniela Medina, Research Director at Te Protejo, and here is what she had to say.
“To start, could you tell us about Te Protejo – what the organization does, some of its key achievements so far, and what it's currently working on?”
Daniela: Te Protejo is an organization that works towards transforming the cosmetic industry in Latin America, with the aim of developing innovative policies in favor of the environment and ending the use of animals for research. We work with the general public, companies, policy makers, scientists and representatives to achieve our mission, aiming to engage with the whole cosmetic ecosystem. We've managed to position the cruelty free claim in the Chilean market, increasing the number of cosmetic brands that have a cruelty free certification by 300% since we started and successfully banned animal testing for cosmetics in Chile and Mexico while spreading awareness about animal testing in six countries: Chile, Mexico, Colombia, Brazil, Argentina and Peru. We are currently working on a bill to ban animal testing for cosmetics in Peru, we are part of the Animal National Bioethics Committee in Chile, and we are monitoring the implementation process of the ban in Chile and Mexico while strengthening our relationship with the cosmetic industry and promoting companies that don't test on animals.
"Do you consider animals used in experimentation to be farmed animals? And if so, why is it useful to frame them this way when advocating for their protection?"
Daniela: Yes, every day animals are mass produced in labs in the name of science. There is not even an official number regarding the animals used for research because most countries don't have mandatory reporting of it and some animals are not even considered in several animal welfare regulations. In the USA for example, the most used animals are mice, rats and fish and they are not reported in the USDA's annual statistics nor protected by the Animal Welfare Act. Seeing them as farmed animals helps expose the scale, systemic nature and the ethical issues regarding animal use in research. It brings awareness to practices that most of the time remain hidden behind lab walls, framing the issue in a broader way regarding animal exploitation and the need of consistent and effective legal framework across species and industries.
“If you could raise awareness about one aspect of animal experimentation, what would it be?”
Daniela: That right now animal experimentation is the default option, not due to a current scientific vision, but mostly out of habit. There are alternative methods being developed that have proved to be more efficient and safe, but as long as we keep teaching animal based methods as the norm and legally requiring animal experimentation as a regulatory standard, these alternatives won't advance as fast as we need them to do. We should change the mindset of using animals by default, especially when it is already proven they can feel fear and pain. The future of science is in alternative methods, and we should support and encourage its development as a priority.
"Now that Te Protejo has successfully achieved a ban on cosmetic testing in Chile, what are the next goals or challenges the organisation is focusing on within the country?"
Daniela: Legislation always comes with challenges, and in Latin America law implementation is a systemic and ongoing issue. For us, it is essential to keep monitoring how the law is being enforced in Chile so we can ensure its compliance. Also, the ban has its limitations, like similar regulations around the world it considers exceptions and only applies to what happens within the country, and does not prevent products being tested on animals abroad or to comply with different regulations. So we will continue to inform consumers and encourage them through their purchase decision to support brands that are certified cruelty free, while working with raising awareness about animals used in research.
We are also working on the publication of the National Regulation for the Protection of Live Animals in Experimentation, an essential document that will set the standards for the use of animals in research in our country. In parallel we have been meeting with candidates for the next presidential election, to raise the importance of this regulation in the country and hopefully get them to incorporate points about bioethics and animal welfare for research into their government programs.
Te Protejo does sensational work. To achieve legislative progress in multiple countries in the space of just a number of years is a formidable achievement, and they are not stopping there, now working towards a ban on cosmetic testing in Peru. As Animal Law Focus is an organisation focused on using existing legislation to address non-compliance and bring about progress for animals, we want to echo Daniela’s point that legislative progress is only half the battle, and we are excited to continue exploring how we could work together to ensure compliance. We want to help every animal that is exploited systematically, and recognising that animals in experimentation are farmed animals is an important first step to doing this.
We are currently working on our first major investigation into non-compliance in Chilean farms that raise animals for consumption. Speaking to Daniela and finding out more about the animal testing industry, it struck us how much more difficult an investigation into non-compliance in animal testing facilities would be. Although there are countless challenges to collecting data on what goes on inside chicken, pig, or cow farms, this information does (or at least should, by law) exist. This is not the case when it comes to animals used in experimentation. Their suffering remains even more invisible. We do not know how many animals are tested on and killed each day, we do not know for what purpose each individual is killed, and we do not know the true extent of their suffering. This horrific injustice must be addressed, and we could not be more grateful to Te Protejo and other organisations for fighting for these sentient individuals and invisible victims.
Let’s work together for a future without farmed animals of any kind.
