Eli Lilly Chief Scientific Officer to Face Home Protest Over Forced Swim Tests

PETA ‘Mice’ Will Demand Ban on Cruel Near-Drowning Test on Small Animals

For Immediate Release:
December 9, 2020

Contact:
Brooke Rossi 202-483-7382

On Thursday, PETA supporters practicing social distancing and wearing masks—mouse masks, that is—will gather for a peaceful protest outside the home of Eli Lilly Chief Scientific Officer Daniel Skovronsky to demand that he ban the company’s use of the cruel forced swim test on animals.

When:    Thursday, December 10, 12 noon

In the test (see this video), mice, hamsters, or other small animals are placed in inescapable beakers filled with water and made to swim to keep from drowning, purportedly to shed light on human depression. The test has been heavily criticized by scientists who argue that floating is not a sign of depression or despair, as some claim, but rather a positive indicator of learning, saving energy, and adapting to a new environment. Statistically, the test is less accurate than a coin toss in determining the effectiveness of antidepressant medications. Between 1993 and 2019, Eli Lilly employees published at least 20 papers and submitted at least 11 patent applications describing the use of the notorious test.

“Eli Lilly is clinging to archaic cruelty even though its competitors have banned this useless test,” says PETA neuroscientist Dr. Emily Trunnell. “PETA will bring this issue home for Eli Lilly’s Daniel Skovronsky until he does something about it.”

GlaxoSmithKline, Bayer, Pfizer, Johnson & Johnson, Bristol Myers Squibb, and many other pharmaceutical companies have banned the forced swim test after discussions with PETA.

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to experiment on”—opposes speciesism, a human-supremacist worldview. For more information, please visit PETA.org.