Beyond animal testing? Human health, organoids, and the rise of new approach methodologies in UK/US media coverage (2013–2024)

This article examines how organoids, self-organizing, stem cell-derived models of human tissue, are framed in UK and US media as ethical innovations poised to replace animals in human health research. Drawing on a decade of newspaper coverage (2013–2024), we analyze how organoids are represented in relation to animals, ethics, and the rise of New Approach Methodologies (NAMs) in biomedicine. Using the animal research nexus approach, we show that media narratives consistently position organoids as both scientifically superior and ethically progressive. However, this narrative often obscures ongoing animal use in organoid-based research, particularly in chimeric studies. We argue that the ethical promise of organoids does not simply displace animal models, it reframes the terms of the debate. By critically examining how public narratives of organoids are produced and stabilized in human health research, this paper calls for more nuanced understandings of responsibility in emerging health biotechnologies, where animals remain central, even in their supposed absence.