I am writing to urge you to support The Humane and Existing Alternatives in Research and Testing Sciences Act (HEARTS Act H.R. 1209), introduced by representatives Ken Calvert (R-CA) and Lucille Roybal-Allard (D-CA).  

The HEARTS Act will incentivize researchers to choose modern, superior methods over animals by granting National Institutes of Health funding priority to experiments using non-animal alternatives.  It will require NIH researchers to effectively search for existing non-animal technologies for their grant proposals and it will provide access to an expert who can evaluate the adequacy of the search methods.

Animal experiments are increasingly noted for being ineffective.  Approximately 30% of medications that are considered promising based on animal models prove toxic in humans, while an additional 60% of medications tested on animals simply don’t work in humans. [https://ncats.nih.gov/tissuechip/about]  This adds up to a shocking 90% of drugs that tested safely and effectively in animals failing to pass human clinical trials.

The HEARTS Act will implement reasonable and effective measures to help ensure that non-animal methods will be used whenever they are available, improving science and medicine, reducing costs and sparing animals from needless suffering.  Please support for this important legislation.