'Will take India backwards': Surat Parvatam urges Centre to reconsider proposed rules on animal testing

The Centre is facing a lot of backlash over its draft rules on animal experimentation, with animal rights organisations and activists saying that the proposed framework would only expose the animals to more brutality and greater suffering. They also argue that the proposed framework might weaken the safeguards governing experiments across research facilities.

The Draft Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (Control and Supervision of Experiment, Breeding and Trading of Laboratory Animals) Rules, 2026, was notified by the Centre in October. It would replace the existing 1968 and 1998 rules. The government, which has sought suggestions on the draft until November 5, argues that the draft rules would help speed up scientific research.

Speaking to India TV, Dr Surat Parvatam, Senior Programme Director at Humane World for Animals, believes that the draft rules would be 'problematic' for animals under wildlife protection and stray animals, which could be picked up for experimentation. These drafts, she argued, could compromise both ethical standards and the reliability of scientific research.

"These are not just ethical concerns but scientific concerns as well. The scientific credibility of the research is extremely important," Dr Surat said.

Draft rules could affect scientific research

She raised concerns over proposed relaxation in the procurement of animals for laboratory experiments. Under the proposed rules, researchers could be allowed to procure animals from unregistered breeders or even open markets if they are unable to obtain them from registered sources.

Dr Surat questioned this, while explaining that animals that are bred for laboratory research have a known genetic background and medical history. This allows for maintaining greater consistency in experiments. But the proposed framework could challenge biosafety and scientific accountability.

"If you are taking animals from open markets, unregistered breeders, or even using stray animals, what will be the credibility of the scientific data that you generate?" she said, while speaking to India TV. "If you take animals from unregistered sources, there will be a knowledge gap regarding their medical background and genetics. This could create a risky situation for science."

Is India weakening its existing safeguards?

The earlier rules directed researchers to conduct experimentation using non-animal testing methods. If they fail to get the desired result, then they needed to provide a proper justification for animal testing. However, this has been removed from the proposed framework, Dr Surat said.

"The previous version of the rules mentioned that non-animal methods should be used first, and researchers had to provide proper justification for not using them. For some reason, this mandate has been removed in the new draft," she said.

In her interaction with India TV, Dr Surat said the country had proposed amendments to the New Drugs and Clinical Trials Rules in 2023, which promoted alternative testing methods. For drug evaluation, organoids, organ-on-chip systems and other human-based testing were promoted under them.

"In that context, the new draft rules appear to be taking a few steps backwards from the progress India has already made," she said, while warning that the draft rules can affect India's growth in modern and human-relevant research methods.

Note: Citizens can send their suggestions or objections to the proposed rules by writing to cpcsea-mef@gov.in.