PETA India warns that proposed animal experimentation rules could subject wild animals, free-ranging dogs, and cats to severe suffering.
These will include electric shocks and induced tumors, undermining existing welfare safeguards.
The organisation urges the government to withdraw the draft, emphasizing global progress in non-animal research methods and India's previous advancements in replacing animal testing.
Wild animals taken from their natural habitats, community dogs and free-ranging cats could be used in laboratory experiments under India's proposed animal experimentation rules, according to a warning by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) India.
The organisation said the draft Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (Control and Supervision of Experiment, Breeding and Trading of Laboratory Animals) Rules, 2026, could weaken existing animal welfare safeguards and allow animals to be subjected to electric shocks, induced tumours and other forms of physical suffering.
In a statement, PETA India described the proposed changes as regressive at a time when several countries are moving towards non-animal research methods, and called for the draft rules to be withdrawn.
According to PETA India, Rule 5 of the draft provides exceptions that could allow animals protected under the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972, to be captured and used in experiments, subject to scientific justification and legal permissions.
The rules also set out conditions for exceptions involving endangered species.
“Rule 5(2)(c) even allows authorities to exempt researchers from taking measures to minimise the suffering of wild animals found injured or unwell during or after capture,” the organisation said.
PETA India further said that although Rule 5(3) generally prohibits experiments on free-ranging and feral animals, exemptions could allow their use in laboratories under specified circumstances.
The organisation also raised concerns about provisions relating to experiments involving severe pain and distress.
Annexe I of the draft explicitly lists inescapable electric shocks, prolonged isolation of social animals such as dogs and monkeys, certain tumour-inducing experiments, and toxicity tests in which death is an endpoint as examples of experiments classified as “severe”.
Although the draft prohibits prolonged severe suffering that cannot be alleviated, it continues to permit some experiments involving severe suffering, according to PETA India.
Concerns over oversight and animal welfare safeguards
PETA India also warned that the proposed rules could weaken independent oversight and existing animal welfare protections.
“The draft would allow institutional ethics committees to approve experiments classified as mild or moderate on larger animals, including dogs, horses, pigs, and cattle, without prior approval from the central Committee for Control and Supervision of Experiments on Animals (CCSEA). Shockingly, smaller animals including rabbits could undergo severe or non-recovery experiments without CCSEA review simply because of their species — even though severe pain and suffering are no less serious in these animals,” PETA India said.
The organisation said the draft also failed to retain specific existing requirements concerning mandatory anaesthesia, lifetime rehabilitation and the possibility of euthanasia.
It further raised concerns about provisions requiring advance notice before inspections of research facilities, arguing that these could undermine efforts to identify violations and ensure compliance with animal welfare standards.
Under draft Rule 4(6), animals could also be used for purposes such as training and education, including vocational skills development.
PETA India argued that this was contrary to Section 17(2)(f) of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960, which discourages experiments conducted merely to acquire manual skills.
“The draft also contains troubling exceptions and ambiguities concerning experiments on non-human primates, including rhesus macaques, who lost their former Schedule II protection under the Wildlife (Protection) Act following its 2022 amendment,” the organisation said.
“India’s forests must not become a source of animals for laboratories, and our community dogs and cats must never be treated as disposable experimental subjects,” said Anjana Aggarwal, PETA India's scientist and research policy adviser.
Aggarwal said that advances in non-animal research methods, including human organs-on-chips, laboratory-grown human tissues and computer models capable of predicting toxicity, offered alternatives to animal experimentation.
“We urge the government to withdraw these draft rules rather than take animal protection back in time,” she said.
India has previously moved away from animal testing
PETA India said the country had previously demonstrated progress in replacing animal experiments with alternative methods.
According to the organisation, animal experiments in undergraduate medical, pharmacy and dental education have been replaced with non-animal teaching and training methods.
India has also prohibited animal testing for cosmetics and removed animal tests from relevant standards for soaps and detergents, it said.
In 2023, the country amended its New Drugs and Clinical Trials Rules, 2019, to explicitly recognise non-animal approaches, including cell-based assays, organs-on-chips, computer modelling and other methods based on human biology.
Indian regulatory agencies overseeing drugs, chemicals and pesticides are also increasingly accepting non-animal methods for toxicity testing, according to PETA India.
Global shift towards non-animal research
Citing developments in other countries, PETA India said international regulatory agencies were increasingly moving towards alternatives to animal testing.
The United States Food and Drug Administration is working to replace certain animal tests with methods considered more relevant to human biology, while the US National Institutes of Health is increasing investment in non-animal research technologies, the organisation said.
The US Environmental Protection Agency is also expanding the use of non-animal testing methods.
Meanwhile, the European Commission has adopted a roadmap towards phasing out animal testing for chemical safety assessments, while the UK government has outlined a strategy to phase out the use of animals in scientific research, except in exceptional circumstances, according to PETA India.
The organisation urged India to follow these developments by strengthening animal welfare safeguards and promoting non-animal research methods rather than introducing further exemptions for animal experimentation.
It said the proposed rules should support scientific progress while ensuring that existing protections against animal suffering are not weakened.