Modernizing Research
It is estimated that 100-190 million animals suffer and die worldwide each year -- including 12-24 million in the United States -- after being captured or bred and used for experimentation. Precise US numbers are unknown, because researchers are not required to report numbers of rats, mice, and birds -- the majority of animals they use.
The Gregory J. Reiter Memorial Fund has supported multiple initiatives of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) and the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine to end the use of animals in experiments and promote modern technologies that both spare animals from suffering and produce better outcomes for people.
The work of these organizations has contributed to landmark US policy shifts including:
In January 2026, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin announced the agency’s recommitment to phasing out mammalian animal testing by 2035, a deadline first set by former Administrator Andrew Wheeler in 2019 but later rescinded. In June, the EPA updated its list of acceptable alternatives to animal studies for the first time in five years.
In April 2025, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced plans to phase out animal testing requirements for developing a range of drugs, starting with monoclonal antibodies that are used to treat cancer, Covid-19, and other diseases.
Also in April 2025, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) announced adoption of a new initiative to expand innovative, human-based science while reducing animal use in research. The NIH, the largest US research funder, has historically spent more than half its $45 billion annual budget on animal studies, while also acknowledging that the failure rate of these studies – approximately 90% by multiple measures -- is unacceptably high.
Multiple federal agencies opened investigations into Elon Musk’s brain-computer interface company, Neuralink, after PCRM produced evidence that brain implant experiments had caused the deaths of at least 12 monkeys. In December 2022, Reuters reported that the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) and Department of Justice (DOJ) were investigating Neuralink for animal welfare violations. In December 2024, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) opened a separate investigation.
In September 2024, as a result of PETA’s advocacy, Charles River Labs -- the world’s largest breeder of animals for use in experiments -- cancelled plans for a facility that would have housed up to 43,000 primates on ecologically sensitive land next to a wildlife refuge in Brazoria County, Texas.
Over the period June through September 2022, research breeding facility Envigo was closed, and thousands of surviving dogs were released for adoption. In June 2024, Inotiv, Envigo's parent company, was ordered to pay a record $35 million in criminal fines for violating the federal Animal Welfare Act and Clean Water Act. PETA’s investigation of the facility, and its work with Virginia and U.S. legislators and government officials, were critical to this outcome.
PCRM co-sponsored the California Cruelty-Free Cosmetics Act -- signed into law in September 2018 and put into effect as of January 2020 -- which prohibits the sale of cosmetics in California if any component of the product was tested on animals. Eleven other US states have followed California’s lead in banning cosmetic testing on animals.