Animal testing can be reduced by 60 percent on average due to alternative testing methods developed by Taiwanese researchers, National Science and Technology Council (NSTC) Minister Wu Tsung-tsong (吳政忠) said yesterday.
Animal testing is often necessary to ensure the safety of pharmaceuticals, pesticides and cosmetics before they can hit the market, but local researchers have developed 102 alternative testing methods that can reduce the need for testing on animals, Wu told a news conference held on World Day for Laboratory Animals.
“Normally, if you rely too much on animal testing then you harm animals, and if you do not test on animals, you risk producing products that are unsafe for people,” he said.
Photo: Wu Po-hsuan, Taipei Times
The situation motivated the government in October 2022 to establish an inter-ministerial platform committed to tackling the issue, he said.
“We were committed to achieving the “three Rs” of animal testing: replace, reduce and refine,” he said, adding that he felt that Taiwan had an obligation as an advanced country to move in this direction.
Seven ministries and other government agencies are participating in the platform: the NSTC, the Ministry of Agriculture, the Ministry of Environment, the Ministry of Health and Welfare, the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Academia Sinica, he said.
Through the platform, the agencies seek to leverage Taiwan’s strengths in semiconductors, the capabilities of generative artificial intelligence, and the ministries’ knowledge and experiences in the fields of biomedicine, agriculture and animal science, he said.
In addition to protecting animals, the platform’s focus is on establishing more efficient methods for biomedical research and drug development.
The alternative-testing project is expected to be extended until 2027 and would receive annual funding of NT$200 million (US$6.15 million), NSTC Deputy Minister Chern Yi-juang (陳儀莊) said.
In one example of an alternative testing method developed under the project, a team found a way to use biomimetic skin cells to replace rabbits when testing irritants and corrosive materials, National Laboratory Animal Center Director Chin Hsien-ching (秦咸靜) said.
Alternative testing was also shown to be faster, she said, citing a four-day test cycle for assessing the toxicity and risks of pesticides.
National Cheng Kung University College of Medicine professor Wang Ying-jan (王應然) said his team of researchers has partnered with 25 companies to process research data, enabling them to avoid wasting resources and repetition during experimentation.
An essay competition jointly organized by a local writing society and a publisher affiliated with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) might have contravened the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例), the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said on Thursday. “In this case, the partner organization is clearly an agency under the CCP’s Fujian Provincial Committee,” MAC Deputy Minister and spokesperson Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) said at a news briefing in Taipei. “It also involves bringing Taiwanese students to China with all-expenses-paid arrangements to attend award ceremonies and camps,” Liang said. Those two “characteristics” are typically sufficient
A magnitude 5.9 earthquake that struck about 33km off the coast of Hualien City was the "main shock" in a series of quakes in the area, with aftershocks expected over the next three days, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Prior to the magnitude 5.9 quake shaking most of Taiwan at 6:53pm yesterday, six other earthquakes stronger than a magnitude of 4, starting with a magnitude 5.5 quake at 6:09pm, occurred in the area. CWA Seismological Center Director Wu Chien-fu (吳健富) confirmed that the quakes were all part of the same series and that the magnitude 5.5 temblor was
The brilliant blue waters, thick foliage and bucolic atmosphere on this seemingly idyllic archipelago deep in the Pacific Ocean belie the key role it now plays in a titanic geopolitical struggle. Palau is again on the front line as China, and the US and its allies prepare their forces in an intensifying contest for control over the Asia-Pacific region. The democratic nation of just 17,000 people hosts US-controlled airstrips and soon-to-be-completed radar installations that the US military describes as “critical” to monitoring vast swathes of water and airspace. It is also a key piece of the second island chain, a string of
The Central Weather Administration has issued a heat alert for southeastern Taiwan, warning of temperatures as high as 36°C today, while alerting some coastal areas of strong winds later in the day. Kaohsiung’s Neimen District (內門) and Pingtung County’s Neipu Township (內埔) are under an orange heat alert, which warns of temperatures as high as 36°C for three consecutive days, the CWA said, citing southwest winds. The heat would also extend to Tainan’s Nansi (楠西) and Yujing (玉井) districts, as well as Pingtung’s Gaoshu (高樹), Yanpu (鹽埔) and Majia (瑪家) townships, it said, forecasting highs of up to 36°C in those areas
RSS