The animal protection organisation PETA and the companies Imperial Brands, Philip Morris, British American Tobacco and Altria have joined forces to stop using animal experiments in the tobacco industry, according to a press release.

Together, the parties have donated equipment worth USD 110,000 manufactured by the German company Vitrocell Systems to the Institute for In Vitro Sciences (IIVS). IIVS is a non-profit laboratory in Gaithersburg (Maryland, US) that carries out animal-free tests. The aim is to support companies in assessing the effects of tobacco, nicotine and other aerosols on the human respiratory tract, the press release said.
"This latest donation takes us one step closer to replacing the use of animals in inhalation testing," says Dr Amy Clippinger, president of the Science Consortium. "Testing chemicals on cells in a way that mimics real-life exposure will lead to more human-relevant results and spare animals' lives."