Historic First: Taiwan FDA Drops Animal Tests for Health Marketing Claim for Foods After PETA Pressure

Following pressure from PETA—which included the submission of a detailed scientific critique at the agency’s request—the Taiwan Food and Drug Administration made a groundbreaking announcement that it has removed animal-testing recommendations and requirements from its draft regulation for companies wanting to make anti-fatigue health claims about their food and beverage products and will instead now require only safe and effective human tests. Prior to the agency’s announcement, thousands of animals were tormented and killed in efforts to establish this anti-fatigue health claim—including in the notorious forced swim test, during which experimenters fed mice or rats large quantities of the test foods, then starved them for up to 24 hours, dropped them into individual beakers filled with water, and observed how long they struggled before drowning or remaining underwater for eight consecutive seconds.