BILL
SUBJECT
DATE
The Business Council of New York State strongly opposes S.3457-A (Gianaris) / A.6871 (Bores), which would impose a new financial assessment on businesses using laboratory animals in research, this assessment would then be used to fund grants supporting non-animal research methods. While this is an admirable concept, all organizations are committed to promoting ethical and humane care of laboratory animals. Organizations using animals in research do so under ethical treatment guidelines and standards set by the United States Animal Welfare Act as well as other federal and state regulations. Organizations are supportive and look to alternatives whenever it is feasible to do so.
This legislation would heavily burden our life sciences industry and place New York at a competitive disadvantage in important innovation. Biotech companies, including academic research centers in the state, are working to discover and develop new therapeutics and rely on animals for key steps in the drug development process. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the National Institutes of Health (HIH) often require the use of multiple animal testing for safety data before moving on to human trials. Creating an assessment on these organizations that are following federal guidelines is counterproductive and could have devasting effects. This legislation would result in delays or even the halting of new treatments for patients.
This legislation would ultimately weaken New York State's life science industry while also delaying the development of new treatments. New York must not be put at a competitive disadvantage among other states, we risk losing more employers and employees we simply cannot afford to.
For these reasons, The Business Council opposes the above-mentioned bill.