LABORATORY ANIMALS
1. She pioneered and introduced the “THE SCIENCE OF ALTERNATIVES TO ANIMALS IN RESEARCH/EDUCATION MOVEMENT” in INDIA to promote the universal concept of 3Rs (Replacement , Reduction and Refinement of Russel and Burch) by organizing the first ever conference on alternatives in New Delhi in 2003, under the aegis of CPCSEA(Committee for the Purpose of Control and Supervision of Experiments on Animals), Ministry of Environment & Forests, GOI, when working as Expert Consultant with the CPCSEA. Experts from the best platforms of alternatives from the USA and Europe were invited to address a gathering of close to 500 scientists and students. Hence the first seed was sown to better laboratory animal welfare in India.
2. She has been responsible for coining the term called 4Th R – REHABILITATION- OF LABORATORY ANIMALS as a continuum of the universal 3Rs concept of Russel and Burch and this eventually became a national policy of the CPCSEA from 2004. She has been responsible for the RESCUE AND REHABILITATION OF THOUSANDS OF LABORATORY ANIMALS from the year 2000 to date - which were subject to cruel experiments in laboratories that included dogs, horses and primates across India. And continues to do so to date.
3. She was instrumental in preparing the NATIONAL GUIDELINES - FIRST OF ITS KIND IN THE WORLD - FOR THE ETHICAL USE OF EQUINES IN ANTI- SNAKE VENOM SERUM PRODUCTION in 2001 while working as Expert Consultant with CPCSEA, Ministry of Environment and Forests, GOI. India is the only country which has developed guide lines for equines used in the production of immuno-biologicals. (Ref: CPCSEA COMPEDIUM pgs. 106- 160)
4. She initiated and developed THE NATIONAL GUIDELINES FOR THE REHABILITATION AND REUSE OF DOGS USED IN TOXICITY TESTING in 2014 as a member of the CPCSEA. India is now the first ever country in the world to have developed guidelines to limit the years of use and confinement for dogs in a laboratory. Hundreds of beagles have been released and continue to be released from laboratories to homes where they enjoy the bliss of freedom and love for the first time in their lives. (Ref: CPCSEA COMPEDIUM pgs. 160 164. Today along with Chinthana Gopinath, Founder - Freagles India - hundreds of beagles continue to be rehabilitated from laboratories into forever homes.
5. She founded theMAHATMA GANDHI DOERENKAMP CENTRE FOR ALTERNATIVES (MGDC) TO THE USE OF ANIMALS IN RESEARCH AND EDUCATION in the Bharathidasan University, Tiruchirapalli, TamilNadu in 2009 with a 500,000 Euro grant from the Doerenkamp Zbinden Foundation, Switzerland. It is the first and only such center in Asia, It was initiated with the view to integrate the philosophy of “Ahimsa” in biological sciences. The center trains students / scientists ‘in- vitro’ (non – animal) methods in research/teaching.
In February 2016 MGDC - was declared as the NATIONAL CENTRE FOR ALTERNATIVES TO ANIMAL EXPERIMENTS” under the University Grants Commission, Govt. Of India.
6. She launched a campaign that she called ‘SOUND OF SILENCE’ Campaign at the TECHFEST 2016 in IIT Mumbai, with Gul Panag amidst over 1000 IITians from all over India – to create awareness in the cruelty involved in the silent suffering of dogs and other animals in toxicity testing and with the goal to one day stop all use of dogs / other animals in toxicity testing.
7. In October 2017 and in May 2018, she single handedly organized two very successful high level NATIONAL ROUND TABLE CONFERENCES which included participants from regulatory authorities in the GOI, testing laboratories / big pharma and animal welfare organizations for the first time in India. The participants after long deliberations agreed and recommended that in view of the recent MRI findings that established the fact that the dog is as sentient as a two year old child -the participants after much deliberations agreed in writing to the fact that the dog is a deeply sentient being and must be replaced in the use of testing urgently
8. I-CARE was responsible in initiating the nationwide movement in 2007 with a detailed request to Prof. Thorat, Chairman with University Grants Commission UGC amongst teachers and students in India to stop the use of animals in dissection. This resulted in University Grants Commission, Govt. Of India, finally issuing orders to BAN DISSECTION OF ANIMALS IN LIFE SCIENCES IN 2012, SAVING THE LIVES OF OVER 18 MILLION ANIMALS EVERY YEAR.
I-CARE organized THE FIRST INDIAN CONGRESS ON ALTERNATIVES TO ANIMALS IN RESEARCH AND EDUCATION IN 2007in collaboration with Ramachandra Medical University in Chennai.
9. She conceived the idea of collating all research available to prove that dogs are extremely sentient beings to eventually call on the scientific community to recognize and accept this fact. Hence to this end in co–authorship with Dr.Jarrod Bailey they published their findings in the paper titled ‘ADVANCES IN NEUROSCIENCE IMPLY THAT HARMFUL EXPERIMENTS IN DOGS ARE UNETHICAL” which was published in the Journal of Medical Ethics in 2017- an esteemed peer reviewed international journal.