Dane County board adopts resolution urging advance of human-relevant non-animal research methods

The Dane County Board of Supervisors on Thursday adopted Resolution 70, a nonbinding statement calling on Wisconsin to advance human-relevant non-animal research methods (NAMs).

Scientists and advocates urged the board to back the technology during public comment. "Today, we have innovative human relevant non animal testing methods that are often more predictive of human outcomes than traditional animal models," said Dawn Everhart, a Dane County resident who identified herself as having pharmacy training and described her beagle rescued from laboratory use. Christina Kondrowski Newton, a UW–Madison professor, told supervisors that NAMs such as reconstructed human skin, cornea-like tissue models and organoids are already used in regulatory settings. "The percentage of time that drugs fail in clinical trials after passing all of those animal tests ... it's over 90 percent of the time," she said, urging further investment in alternatives.

Supporters said the resolution does not call for an immediate end to animal research but aims to position Dane County to encourage innovation and training. "This resolution is very forward thinking," Kondrowski Newton said. Opponents on the board questioned whether the county should take policy positions that do not directly affect county operations; one supervisor cited a university letter and urged caution about implied criticism of existing research operations. The board recorded a roll-call vote at the end of the discussion and adopted the resolution.