Urge Taiwan to Strengthen Regulation on Sourcing Animals for Experiments

The Taiwan Ministry of Agriculture has drafted a new regulation on the sourcing of animals for use in laboratories that is incomplete and insufficient, with gaping loopholes that would allow the unabated torment of dogs, monkeys, and others if it is adopted unchanged.

Under the draft regulation, many animals widely used in cruel and pointless experiments are not covered. This means that the protections and measures set out in this draft regulation—including the prohibition of abducting animals from the wild, and the requirement that suppliers need to have proper licenses and certifications—do not apply to dogs, cats, monkeys, birds, reptiles, and amphibians.

Worse, the draft regulation contains huge loopholes that would allow experimenters to purchase animals from countries that have lax or non-existent animal protection laws, a controversial practice known as “ethics dumping.” For instance, animals sourced from certain countries may be treated, transported, or killed in inhumane but entirely legal ways.

PETA has submitted a formal comment (English version) to Taiwan’s Ministry of Agriculture, urging it to close these gaps by covering all animals, ensuring foreign suppliers meet Taiwan’s standards, and implementing stronger inspections and penalties.

The comment period is now closed. Thank you to all who took action! We’ll keep you updated. In the meantime, please urge companies in Taiwan to stop experimenting on and killing animals for marketing food and beverage products.