ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT ANIMAL TESTING.

Remember, these dogs are not 'abused' or 'rescued', they are 'retired' from their services to human kind. There are authorities and laws in place to ensure that animals are not abused both during testing and also when they are ready to be released. A lot of NGOs have played a crucial role in tying up with labs to help rehabilitate them via shelters. Here are the guidelines that ensure their safety:

• Chapter IV of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, enacted by India in 1960, contains information about experimentation on animals.
• The Animal Welfare Board of India was also set up as a product of this Section of the Act and the government also initiated the committee for the Purpose and Control and Supervision of Experiments on Animals (CPCSEA).
• The CPCSEA plays a very important role in regulating the use of animals before, during and after being exposed to experiments. The CPCSEA, as mandated by law Rule. 9(c) of the Breeding of and Experiments on Animals (Control and Supervision) Rules 1998 - which states that "animals intended for the performance of experiments are properly looked after both before and after experiments" - finds it necessary to frame guidelines which limit the use of animals in testing/research and their care after use in experiments.
• CPCSEA guidelines are based on the premise that animals in labs undergo psychological, physiological and physical trauma, not just from the interventions, but also from solitary confinement, lack of natural conditions et al.
• CPCSEA defines a time limit for which dogs can be tested and/or housed in labs.

ANIMAL TESTING IN COSMETIC INDUSTRY AND MEDICAL STUDIES: A TIMELINE.

• In 2013, India became the first country in South Asia to ban the testing of cosmetics and its ingredients on animals. Following appeals from various quarters, the decision was taken by the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) Cosmetics Sectional Committee, chaired by the Drugs Controller General of India, in line with the European Union's stand. Violation of the Drugs and Cosmetics Act by any person or corporate manager or owner can attract a prison term of 3-10 years and/or a fine of Rs. 500/- to Rs. 10,000/-.
• In 2014, the Indian Ministry of Health and Family Welfare announced a ban on the import of animal-tested cosmetics - a decision hailed by many, as this saves millions of animals from being blinded, poisoned and killed in cruel tests.
• In 2016, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare passed an amendment to Schedule Y of the Drugs and Cosmetics Rules, 1945, which spares animals testing for new drug registrations, in cases when complete data from earlier toxicity.   

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------