Taiwan FDA Finalizes Regulation, Ends Drowning and Electroshock Tests on Animals After PETA Pressure

The Taiwan Food and Drug Administration has finalized a regulation and removed animal-testing recommendations and requirements for companies wanting to make anti-fatigue health marketing claims about their food and beverage products. It will now require only safe and effective human tests. This follows pressure from PETA that included the submission of a detailed scientific critique at the agency’s request and e-mails to agency officials from more than 73,000 supporters opposing animal experiments.

Prior to the agency’s announcement, thousands of animals were tormented and killed in efforts to establish anti-fatigue health claims for marketing food and beverage products. Experimenters fed mice or rats large quantities of the test foods, starved them for up to 24 hours, dropped them into individual beakers filled with water, and observed how long they struggled before drowning or remaining underwater for eight consecutive seconds. Experimenters also fed rats large quantities of the test foods and then put the animals on treadmills equipped with electrified plates to measure how long it took for them to choose repeated electroshocks over continuing to run at increasing speeds and steeper inclines.