The animal rights group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) declared “major victory!” on Tuesday after learning Ford Motor Co. had just changed its policy to ban animal testing.
In a news release, PETA wrote, “In Ford’s 2023 Integrated Sustainability and Financial Report, the automaker has updated its policy at PETA’s request to close all loopholes: ‘Ford’s practice is not to use or fund animals for testing nor to ask others to do that for us.’ “
The nonprofit group discovered in 2021 that Ford paid for a crash test study involving animals years earlier and wanted the company to ban any future testing. PETA collected more than 100,000 signatures protesting the Ford project and distributed a letter from actor Lily Tomlin, a Detroit native.
The controversial 19-page crash study, completed in 2014 and published in 2018 by Wayne State University in Detroit, involved biomedical and auto safety engineers who used 27 pigs to better understand potential crash impact on small children. Data was then compared with previous, similar studies in the context of exploring orthopedic trauma and safety protocols. References in the report indicate the pigs had been euthanized before the testing began.
“The company clarified what we’ve been saying for two years and doing for much longer: We aren’t using animal cadavers, much less live animals, in research and don’t intend to,” Ford spokesman T.R. Reid told the Detroit Free Press on Tuesday.
Previously, General Motors and Stellantis, which makes Jeep and Ram Trucks and Chrysler products, already made commitments to PETA, the organization noted.
In May, a PETA scientist attended Ford’s annual virtual general meeting of shareholders and urged a vote in favor of a PETA resolution that called on the automaker to issue an annual report to shareholders detailing its animal testing processes. The proposal failed.
After the shareholders meeting, Reid told the Free Press that shareholders did not vote on animal testing but, rather, additional reporting on the subject. Reid said then the company policy was not to voluntarily engage in animal testing.
“Ford has a well-established position on the underlying topic, which we’ve discussed with you before: We don’t use animals for safety testing or ask or fund others to do so — and we won’t unless it’s required by law or there isn’t an acceptable alternative for critical safety research,” Reid said at the time. “On the specific proposal, we don’t believe more reporting would provide meaningful insight or benefit.”
On Tuesday, PETA said Ford exceeded expectations.
“In a letter to PETA, the company went even further, stating that an update to its Supplier Code of Conduct requires vendors to Ford ‘not to use animals for testing nor require sub-contractors to do so’ and made its no animal testing ‘expectations explicit in rules for university research project[s] conducted on Ford’s behalf,’ ” PETA said in its news release.
Researchers in the study criticized by PETA specifically note that data used to develop crash test dummies for child safety is difficult to obtain. While various tests use human cadavers left to science, no one uses child cadavers. So engineering safety for children in vehicles is challenging.
PETA urged companies to replace animals with computer modeling and three-dimensional medical imaging.
“This is a major, lifesaving win for animals, and Ford will never again pay to have pendulums smashed into pigs as human stand-ins,” PETA Vice President Shalin Gala said in the news release. “PETA applauds this auto giant for catching up to its rivals and hitting the brakes on needless and cruel animal testing.”
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Contact Phoebe Wall Howard: 313-618-1034 or phoward@freepress.com. Follow her on Twitter @phoebesaid.