U.S. House Re-Introduces Violet’s Law to Make Adoption An Option for Lab Animals

by White Coat Waste Staff · in Blog


Momentum keeps building to give animals in government labs a second chance.

Following WCW’s campaign and action by the U.S. Senate, the U.S House of Representatives just reintroduced the AFTER Act, also known as Violet’s Law, to make lab animal adoption an option … across the entire federal government!

This is a B.F.D. You see, government white coats usually kill survivors—even healthy and adoptable ones—rather than let taxpayers adopt them, or retire them to sanctuaries. It’s just more convenient.

Well, taxpayers “bought” the survivors. Now WCW is making Uncle Sam #GiveThemBack!

Survivors released from taxpayer-funded labs following WCW efforts (L-R): Violet was rescued from a lab by a WCW board member. Delilah was retired by the USDA when WCW shut down its Kitten Slaughterhouse. And Gregory is one of 26 monkeys who WCW got released from the FDA’s now-defunct nicotine lab.


The AFTER Act’s full name is the Animal Freedom from Testing, Experiments and Research Act (HR 5244/S 1378). It’s bipartisan legislation led by Reps. Brendan Boyle (D-PA) and Nancy Mace (R-SC). The Senate version of the AFTER Act was introduced earlier this year by Sens. Susan Collins (R-ME) and Gary Peters (D-MI).

There’s another name for the bill, too: Violet’s Law.  Named for the rescued ex-lab dog who inspired it.

In January, we got the Environmental Protection Agency to commit to retiring rabbits who survive experimentation. We’ve saved 26 squirrel monkeys from the Food and Drug Administration’s $5.5 million nicotine addiction studies, who now live at a primate sanctuary, and the survivors of the USDA’s $22 million  “Kitten Slaughterhouse” lab, after we got that hellhole shut down.

We’ve also secured the first-ever agency-wide commitments to retire and release lab survivors at the:

Following WCW efforts, Congress directed the USDA earlier this year to develop a lab animal retirement policy, too.

But, as we wrote in our op-ed published in USA Today:

A supermajority of taxpayers want Violet’s Law to become the law of the land with 71 percent of Democrats and 72 of Republicans telling Lincoln Park Strategies they want retirement, not death, for animals who survive experiments in government labs.

Please help us make the government give them back by urging your Congress members to cosponsor Violet’s Law to provide a second chance to animals abused in wasteful government experiments!