EPA Announces Two Major Scientific Advancements to Further Eliminate Animal Testing, Raise the Scientific Bar for Chemical Reviews

EPA Announces Two Major Scientific Advancements to Further Eliminate Animal Testing, Raise the Scientific Bar for Chemical Reviews

August 27, 2026

Today, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced two major scientific advancements designed to modernize safety reviews of new chemicals and pesticides while further eliminating the agency's reliance on animal testing. The new methods will help EPA assess the potential inhalation and oral risks of certain chemicals and pesticides faster and with greater human relevance, advancing the agency's commitments to transparency, regulatory certainty, and the protection of human health and the environment.

These advances further illustrate the incredible progress the Trump EPA has made toward accomplishing its goal of eliminating mammalian animal testing by 2035.

"EPA is leading the way on eliminating animal testing by embracing cutting-edge, gold standard science like never before," said EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin. "With these new scientific advancements, we are fostering American innovation and raising the bar when it comes to the research methods used when evaluating new chemicals and pesticides."

Today's announcement introduces two integrated solutions to eliminate animal testing and modernize toxicity reviews:

• Modernizing Surfactant Assessment: Surfactants are chemicals used widely in soaps, detergents, and cleaning products. EPA has updated its scientific framework to better predict how these specific formulas may irritate the lungs using 3D human airway tissue, providing science that is faster, more human relevant, and less dependent on animal testing-without compromising safety. This allows reviewers to safely estimate risks using existing digital models rather than ordering new animal studies.
• Adopting GHS Mixture Standards: EPA will use an international, scientifically backed formula, the Globally Harmonized System (GHS) mixtures equation, to predict oral toxicity for some pesticides. This decision follows a comprehensive analysisExit EPA's website-conducted with the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences-that evaluated nearly 700 pesticide formulations, which showed the mixtures equation can reliably identify products that are minimally toxic by the oral route. By using globally recognized, data-driven calculation formulas, the agency can accurately assess risks based on a mixture's known ingredients, eliminating the need to test the final blended product on animals.

Since EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin committed to eliminating animal testing, the agency has made tremendous progress in pursuing gold standard science-driven alternatives. This includes EPA releasing an expanded listExit EPA's website of cutting-edge alternatives in June 2026, opening the door to scientific innovation that the Biden Administration closed.

A key pillar of EPA's strategy involves pursuing alternatives to animal testing called New Approach Methodologies (NAMs), which are advanced chemical testing technologies, such as computer modeling, cell-based studies, and data-sharing platforms, that estimate chemical toxicity without using live animals. NAMs are functionally equivalent "alternatives" to mammal testing.

EPA's embrace of NAMs provides massive benefits as traditional animal models can be slow, expensive, and do not always perfectly mimic human biological responses. NAMs allow EPA to look directly at chemical impacts on human cells and biological pathways, leading to more accurate predictions of potential health risks in significantly less time than it takes to complete a single animal study.

By utilizing these modern tools, EPA can review innovative chemistries more expeditiously, reducing costly, slow, and unnecessary animal testing while raising the scientific bar and better protecting human health and the environment. EPA's development of NAMs also furthers President Trump's Executive Order to restore gold standard science as the cornerstone of federal scientific research.

EPA also remains committed to working with key scientific partners to identify additional methods of replacing animal testing wherever possible. Those partners include veteran scientists, animal welfare advocates, and NGOs whom share EPA's commitment to phasing out animal testing.

"Today's announcement is further evidence of EPA's ongoing commitment to phase out animal tests and replace them with better tools to predict human responses to chemicals and pesticides and their impact on the environment," said Humane World Action Fund Vice President of Federal Affairs Tracie Letterman. "Approval of these technologies demonstrates that eliminating unnecessary animal tests while maintaining scientific integrity is a top priority for the EPA. We stand ready to work with EPA and all federal agencies on our shared goal of advancing better, more humane science."

"EPA's commitment to advancing these non-animal approaches will save hundreds of rabbits, rats, and mice from being forced to inhale or ingest chemicals or pesticides, tests that cause immense suffering," said Humane World for Animals Vice President of Animal Research Issues Kathleen Conlee, "By adopting these superior methods, EPA reduces animal use in chemical and pesticide testing and also demonstrates the agency's dedication to better science. We look forward to EPA's continued efforts to prioritize elimination of unnecessary animal tests and collaborating with the agency to do just that."

"The EPA's latest actions reflect the agency's continued leadership in clarifying data needs and advancing modern approaches for chemical assessment," said Amy J. Clippinger, PhD, President, PETA Science Consortium International. "With these documents on respiratory irritation and acute oral toxicity, the EPA is translating years of scientific progress into practical regulatory action. These are exactly the types of specific, science-based documents that will encourage broader industry use of reliable and relevant non-animal approaches. We are pleased to support the EPA's efforts and look forward to continued collaboration with the agency to advance the best available science to protect human health and the environment."

"As the watchdog who first uncovered Dr. Fauci's BeagleGate scandal and led conservatives to the fight against taxpayer-funded animal experimentation, White Coat Waste supports Administrator Zeldin's efforts to slash animal testing - and save lab animals," said White Coat Waste President and Founder Anthony Bellotti. "White Coat Waste led the bipartisan investigation and campaign to restore the EPA's landmark animal testing phaseout and to retire and release survivors from the EPA's animal labs, so we applaud the agency's renewed push to deliver on its commitment to end mammal testing by 2035. In the meantime, we will continue working with Administrator Zeldin to reduce animal testing and move EPA toward that goal while saving taxpayer dollars and animals from cruel and wasteful government experiments. The solution is simple: Stop the money. Stop the madness!"

"IIVS is pleased to see the explicit communication of acceptance of in vitro and other chemical assessment approaches by the EPA," said IIVS President Amanda Ulrey. "Both approaches discussed in today's release are scientifically valid, have been developed and evaluated over many years, and provide robust and reliable information on toxicity to protect workers and consumers. We encourage the EPA and regulated companies to continue to integrate in vitro and in silico methods into their assessments for respiratory and acute systemic toxicity and other endpoints."

Completing the Phase Out of All Remaining Animal Testing by 2035

In 2019, during the first Trump Administration, EPA issued a memo laying out the goal of concluding the phase out of all remaining mammalian study requests and funding by 2035, including those performed by third parties. This goal is supported by recent scientific trends and technological advances and the wishes of Congress. The 2016 amendments to TSCA added an explicit requirement for EPA to promote the development and incorporation of methods that reduce or replace the use of vertebrate animals in agency scientific testing.

EPA is committed to using a three-pronged strategy to ensure the agency stays on track with phasing out animal testing and meeting President Trump's 2035 goal:

• Identify NAMs that can currently be used as an alternative to traditional animal testing.
• Conduct a comprehensive review of agency guidance and the Code of Federal Regulations to provide flexibility in fulfilling data requirements for toxicity assessments and issuing waivers to further reduce animal testing requirements.
• Encourage external researchers and data providers to use NAMs and apply for animal testing waivers whenever possible.

As the scientific community moves away from animal testing, the Trump EPA is committed to being at the forefront of developing and incorporating advances in NAMs into its scientific framework to ensure agency assessments and scientific work use high quality, gold standard science.

Read the memo signed by Administrator Zeldin: Recommitment to Reducing Animal Testing and Eliminating Mammalian Testing (pdf)