Animals do not have to suffer so that humans or other animals can live – and in fact, that suffering seldom produces results and wastes research dollars. An article penned by a neuroscientist and PETA research associate details how so-called “breakthroughs” in new treatments using lab animals very rarely translate to results for humans. We also have new science proving other methods to be more effective. Take for example, this news that algorithms crunching databases of large amounts of chemical data are more effective than toxicology tests on animals.

Animal testing increasingly looks more like a cruel sport than a necessary stage in testing. As the above article comments, one researcher hangs mice from their feet, sets mice against each other to measure stress and cuts into their brains. Like so many outdated practices, animal testing reinforces the myth of its own necessity. But isn’t necessity the mother of invention? As animal testing has become less acceptable, new methods have sprung up. In America, animals are still tested on because small animals aren’t covered by the Animal Welfare Act, a legacy of our disregard for creatures other than humans. See what you can do to write to your local lab or university to ask them to stop animal testing. Chances are, they have the science to help them do so.