Rabbits in restraints in an animal-testing laboratory waiting for eye tests. Picture courtesy: HSI India New Delhi, Aug 23: A government panel has set a two-year deadline for India's drugs sector to phase out tests on rabbit eyes used in the evaluation of certain medicines but decried by animal rights activists as cruel and obsolete. The HSI said the rabbit eye test was developed about 70 years ago to measure eye and skin irritation using rabbits while the animals are locked in restraints. The tests on rabbits currently mandated under drug testing rules are typically conducted in in-house or contract animal testing laboratories across the country, Sengupta said. The HSI, she said, does not have estimates of the number of rabbits that undergo these tests in India each year.

Source: The Telegraph August 23, 2016 22:18 UTC