“The beagles have landed: 100 rescued dogs headed to new homes in Maine” (Sept. 4):

Marc Gup, a volunteer with the Animal Refuge League of Greater Portland in Westbrook, greets two beagles being unloaded from a Wings of Rescue plane at the Portland International Jetport on Sunday. One hundred beagles were brought to Portland from among a total of 4,000 beagles rescued from a Virginia breeding facility where the USDA found abusive conditions. Gregory Rec/Staff Photographer

Every year more than 1 million animals, including tens of thousands of beagles and primates, are bred and used for safety and effectiveness tests for new drugs. Even before they arrived at a lab, the beagles were left in their own filth, malnourished, ill, injured and, in some cases, dead at just one facility run by Envigo, which was reported by PETA following their investigation. That breeding facility supplies dogs to pharmaceutical companies, universities and other testing operators required by the Food and Drug Administration.

The mistreatment of beagles, wild primates and a wide range of other species, hidden from the public, continues because of an outdated 83-year-old FDA mandate within our drug development programs. As long as this requirement exists, we cannot rescue our way out of 1 million animals per year used for drug testing.

There are better predictors of human response, and the continued use of animals obstructs scientific advancement and progress for treatments for human diseases.

Both of our U.S. senators in Maine are backing a solution to this outdated and cruel animal testing model right now. As an animal behaviorist and advocate, I encourage Maine’s U.S. representatives to add their support now to ensure FDA modernization becomes the new model for drug development, ending decades of torment for beagles and other animals who suffer needlessly.

FDA modernization will be the catalyst for a transition to modern science.

Gina Garey
Portland