Brooks Law Digest: Animal Testing/Research

The University of Missouri has reportedly settled a suit brought by Beagle Freedom Project over attorney fees from a 2015 case in which the University asked the nonprofit to pay over $80,000 to fulfill a freedom of information records request.

The National Institutes of Health has provided notice of an opportunity for public comment on a proposed information collection that would ensure that NIH funding would only support noninvasive research conducted on chimpanzees. The agency suggests submitting comments on this proposal within sixty days.

Last month, the Mexican Senate passed a bill that would outlaw the manufacture, marketing, or sale of cosmetic products tested on animals. The lower house in the Mexican legislature will consider the bill next.

Drug researcher Charles River has been sued by a company who claims its trade secrets were revealed in an undercover expose of the drug researcher by the Humane Society of the United States posted on YouTube. The company claims it hired Charles River because it specialized in protecting sensitive information and claims fraud, violation of the Federal Defend Trade Secrets Act, negligence, breach of contract, unjust enrichment, and violation of state trade secret laws.

Rhode Island Senate Bill 2608 proposes to amend the state’s anti-cruelty statute to include a ban on the sale of any cosmetic developed or manufactured using an animal test on or after January 1, 2021. A violation would be punishable by a fine of up to $1000 per offense. The legislation contains exemptions for when no viable alternative test is available or the test is required by federal law.

Alabama Senate Bill 196, if enacted, would give exclusive jurisdiction over all animal enterprises in the state to the Commissioner of Agriculture and Industry, ban any municipality or jurisdiction within the state from prohibiting (outright or via financial deterrents) animal enterprise, and criminalize the making of any report “clearly lacking any basis in fact or law” of animal cruelty against an animal enterprise. The bill would also discourage any entity holding an impounded animal from sterilizing the animal by making that entity liable for “the value of the animal and three times  the projected revenue over the reasonably expected life” of the animal.

Iowa Senate Bill 2388, if enacted, would prohibit any county or city in the state from enacting legislation that regulates any animal enterprise, including zoos, circuses, and any operation that uses animals for purposes such as entertainment or transportation.

California Assembly Bill 2059 proposes to limit the use of dogs in toxicological experimentation in the state to tests that are a part of medical research, required in order to comply with the Toxic Substances Control Act, or required in order to comply with federal requirements to achieve approval of a medical device, drug, or pesticide.

The Food and Drug Administration has announced it will hold a public workshop entitled “advancing Animal Models for Antibacterial Drug Development” to discuss both progress and challenges in the development of animal models on March 5, 2020. The agency will accept comments on the workshop until April 6, 2020.

Last June, the Oregon governor signed Senate Bill 638, a bill that requires research facilities that use cats or dogs for laboratory research to offer the animals up for adoption prior to euthanizing them. The legislation went into effect at the start of this year.