I was shocked to learn that National Jewish Health conducts antiquated and senseless cigarette smoking experiments on animals that place them in cruel smoking machines where they are forced to inhale noxious fumes for hours. Moreover, recent news exposed how NJH researchers’ reckless behavior led to the severe distress of guinea pigs including at least one who had to be euthanized due to extreme suffering.

National Jewish Health claims to “integrate the latest scientific discoveries with coordinated care for lung, heart and immune diseases.” Yet, you are conducting cruel and outdated animal experiments at a time when effective cutting-edge, humane, non-animal technology exists.

Superior, humane methods are available to replace cruel inhalation studies using animals that lack human relevance. Examples include MucilAir™, a unique 3D Human Airway Epithelia, composed of human primary cells for studying respiratory diseases and conducting chemical toxicity testing.

Cigarette-smoking machines and robots have been developed by VITROCELL® for in vitro inhalation toxicology to study the impacts of gases, environmental atmospheres, nanoparticles and complex mixtures on lung cells.

Researchers at Harvard’s prestigious Wyss Institute have also developed a Smoking Human Lung Small Airway-On-A-Chip, that can simulate breathing, mimicking a cigarette-smoking human. It then delivers the smoke to microfluidic organs-on-chips lined by human lung small airway cells.

It is simply unconscionable and inexcusable to force defenseless animals into cruel smoking machines where they are bombarded by irritating fumes for hours. I implore you to immediately upgrade to new and humane technology for all smoking or inhalation toxicity studies, and never again engage in unethical animal experiments.