Novo Nordisk is replacing the presence of 700 creatures with non-animal methods

Dec 2, 2011 15:59 GMT  ·  By

An important player in the pharmaceutical industry, Novo Nordisk has decided to spare the lives of 700 animals every year. The company has proudly announced it will no longer test its biological products on misfortunate creatures.

Experts from PETA's Regulatory Testing Division (RTD) have struggled for a long time to convince major enterprises operating in this line of business that non-animal methods of testing vaccines could be as efficient as the traditional ones that are far from being eco-friendly since they strongly rely on actions of animal cruelty, PETA reports.

10 million animals are involved in such tests every year and 80% of those experiments imply painful tests. PETA tried for years to make scientists promise they will no longer use hamsters and other creatures, since they can now opt for greener, risk-free alternatives.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has already greened up its conduct, by letting pigs go while choosing to embrace non-animal methods.