New drugs and consumer products are almost always tested for safety on
rats, rabbits, chimpanzees and other animals, but advances in
technology could bring an end to such experiments.

Testing on animals could be phased out over the next couple of decades
— putting to rest ethical, efficiency and reliability questions — if
new systems are accepted by researchers and government regulators,
according to several experts gathering to debate the subject this
week.

"We're trying to find out how we can save animals and make risk
assessment of consumer products more reliable," said Dr. Thomas
Hartung, director of Johns Hopkins University's Center for
Alternatives to Animal Testing, a co-sponsor of the Washington
conference called Animals, Research, and Alternatives: Measuring
Progress 50 Years Later. "We're learning as science gets better."

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