Overview
- The EPA announced Tuesday that it added 13 new New Approach Methods (NAMs) to its approved list and launched a streamlined nominations process for researchers and companies to propose additional alternatives to animal studies.
- NAMs are non‑animal tools such as human cell models, 3D tissue tests and computer‑based analyses that the EPA says can identify chemical hazards faster and with results more relevant to people than traditional mammal tests.
- The agency said this is the first expansion of its NAMs list since 2021 and pointed to earlier steps—including an April 2025 lab animal adoption program and use of NAMs in cancer reviews for certain phthalates—that it says spared about 1,600 mice and rats.
- Advocates led by the White Coat Waste Project and allied House Republicans have pushed parallel language in the FY27 Interior‑EPA appropriations bill to block funds for mandated dog testing, and lawmakers were scheduled to vote on the measure shortly after the EPA announcement.
- If regulators and Congress move to accept and fund NAMs more broadly, testing could shift toward faster, cheaper human‑relevant methods and reduce the number of mammals used in chemical and pesticide safety reviews; the debate is rooted in a 2021 WCW exposé of federal beagle experiments that has driven much of the political pressure.