GM Upgrades Animal Testing Policy, Ford Lags Behind Big Three Rivals

For Immediate Release:
May 11, 2023

Contact:
Tasgola Bruner 202-483-7382

General Motors (GM) has just upgraded its formal animal testing policy, which now entirely prohibits the automaker from conducting or paying for animal tests.

GM had ended its use of animals in car-crash tests in 1993 after an 18-month PETA campaign, but it didn’t expressly prohibit paying others to run tests on animals until agreeing to that change following a meeting with PETA in March and subsequent discussions. GM’s policy now states, “GM does not conduct or commission the use of animals in tests for research purposes or in the development of our vehicles, either directly or indirectly and GM does not fund such tests.”

Ford Motor Company is now the only Big Three automaker that hasn’t put animal testing in the rearview mirror. PETA presented a resolution at Ford’s shareholder meeting today urging it to kick into high gear and catch up with its Big Three rivals by implementing a total ban on animal testing, as noted in the statement delivered during the meeting.

The resolution—Proposal 8 in Ford’s proxy statement to shareholders—requests that Ford disclose information about the animal tests it conducts, funds, and/or commissions that are not explicitly required by law. PETA submitted the resolution through a supporter who holds Ford stock.

“Allowing any crash testing on animals is abhorrent, but when it’s not even required by law, there’s no excuse,” says PETA Vice President Shalin Gala. “PETA celebrates GM’s compassionate, sensible decision to close the book on its long history of animal testing, and we’re calling on Ford to shift gears and embrace superior, animal-free research.”

PETA discovered that Ford paid for a 2018 study that killed 27 pigs, whose bodies were then strung up by wires through their spines and slammed into with a high-impact pendulum in an attempt to replicate car crash injuries. The public outcry was swift, and Ford established a new public policy, but a loophole permits it to continue such testing on animals even though it isn’t required by law.

PETA has rallied more than 122,000 of its supporters to contact Ford demanding a complete end to the automaker’s animal testing. Actor Lily Tomlin, a Detroit native, has lent her support.

Many other major automakers and automotive associations don’t pursue animal testing not required by law but instead use human-relevant research methods, such as advanced computer modeling and high-fidelity crash manikins.

For more information on PETA’s investigative newsgathering and reporting, please visit PETA.org or follow the group on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram.