New Poll Reveals Americans Are United Against Animal Testing

Survey Shows Nationwide Support for Legislation That Would Phase Out Military Animal Labs and Other Experiments

For Immediate Release:
August 1, 2016

Contact:
Tasgola Bruner 202-483-7382

The nation may be divided on many things, but in a poll conducted by leading market-research firm Lincoln Park Strategies, the vast majority of American adults expressed support for legislation that would phase out controversial experiments on animals.

Following growing pressure from PETA, Congress, medical groups, veterans, and The New York Times urging the Department of Defense (DOD) to use high-tech simulation for medical training exercises instead of stabbing and shooting animals, the new poll questioned 999 adults nationwide on whether they’re in favor of legislation that would phase out animal use in this training—and 80 percent of respondents said that they are. Congress is currently considering a bipartisan bill, the BEST Practices Act, which would shift the DOD to exclusively simulation-based medical training by 2020.

The poll also found that 75 percent of Americans support legislation that would phase out experiments on dogs and cats and 82 percent support mandatory pain relief for all animals used in experiments—something that’s often withheld from animals used in painful chemical, drug, and cosmetics tests.

“A supermajority of Americans agrees with PETA that archaic and cruel experiments on animals should be replaced with more effective, cost-efficient, and humane research technology,” says PETA Senior Vice President Kathy Guillermo. “The government, academia, and private industry must do more to implement human-relevant research methods that spare animals pain and misery in laboratories and can actually improve public health.”

Lincoln Park Strategies conducted the survey online in the U.S. on June 19, 2016. A 2015 Gallup poll found that 67 percent of Americans are concerned about the treatment of animals used in experiments.

For more information, please click here for more poll information or visit PETA’s animal testing page.