The Central government has made a new draft for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (Control and Supervision of Experiment, Breeding and Trading of Laboratory Animals) Rules, 2026 to replace a 1968 and 1998 framework with a modern, graded system for animal experimentation. Science has changed a lot since then.
The new draft has some good points. It divides experiments into four levels based on pain from mild to severe which brings clarity and it says labs must try to replace animals and reduce their number and cause less pain and it also asks for a vet in every lab and better housing for animals.
But there are big problems too. The draft allows labs through the Institutional Animal Ethics Committees to approve their own experiments. For mild and moderate experiments on all animals including dogs and horses and cows the lab’s own committee can give permission without going to the central Committee for the Control and Supervision of Experiments on Animals in Delhi and for small animals like rabbits even severe experiments can be self approved. This weakens independent checking which is very important when animals cannot speak for themselves.
The second problem is that the bans have easy exceptions. The draft says wild animals and street dogs will not be used but then adds that they can be used if there is scientific justification and permission. What counts as justification is not clearly defined and who will check is also not clear. It also says if farm animals are not available from registered breeders, labs can buy from the open market but what not available means is not explained and this exception can easily be misused.
Another worry is that severe pain is still listed as allowed. The draft itself lists electric shocks which the animal cannot escape and keeping social animals like dogs and monkeys alone for a long time and toxicity tests where death is the end point as examples of severe experiments that can be permitted and if the goal is to reduce suffering the rules should be stricter about this.
India had earlier stopped using animals in undergraduate medical and dental and pharmacy classes and had banned animal testing for cosmetics which was praised as progress. Now the draft also allows animals to be used again for education and vocational skills. This is a step back.
All animal experiments cannot be banned because new medicines and vaccines still need animal research. But the rules must be strict and clear and honest. The government is taking objections till November 5 and it should use this time to fix the gaps and make sure that independent approval is needed for experiments on large animals and primates and that exceptions for wild and street animals are made very rare and are publicly reported and that surprise inspections are allowed and that animals are not used just to teach manual skills.
Science must move forward but not by causing unnecessary cruelty.
