Welcome back to Future Perfect, I’m your host. Today we’re diving into a surprising turn in Washington: the Trump administration is moving to phase out decades of mandatory animal testing. In April, the FDA announced it will “reduce, refine, or potentially replace” animal tests for monoclonal antibodies, noting that lab animals’ immune responses often fail to predict human outcomes “due to interspecies differences.” The EPA is also reviving a 2019 ban aimed at ending all animal testing by 2035. And with NIH launching a new Office of Research Innovation, “among the biggest news there’s ever been for animals in laboratories,” according to research policy director Elizabeth Baker, the country’s largest biomedical funder plans to accelerate non-animal methods. Yet critics warn this push comes alongside sweeping budget cuts that threaten overall scientific progress. Can these policy shifts spare millions of animals and still advance medicine? Stay tuned as we unpack what’s next for animal welfare and American science.
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