Federal officials announced yesterday that UC Riverside and three other universities will receive federal funds to find alternatives to animal testing.
UC Riverside will receive about $850,000 in federal grant funds for research aimed at finding alternatives to using animals for testing chemicals.
The total grant is $4.25 million going to four universities – UC Riverside, Johns Hopkins, Oregon State and Vanderbilt.
It’s part of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Directive to Prioritize Efforts to Reduce Animal Testing, which was announced Tuesday by EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler.
The directive aims to “aggressively pursue a reduction in animal testing” that includes ending all mammal study requests and funding by 2035.
According to the EPA, UC Riverside’s grant is to conduct research that examines the effectiveness of using human cells to measure the effects of some chemicals and pollutants on people.
