Pressure from lawmakers is mounting on the Department of Veterans Affairs following White Coat Waste Project’s recent exposé of disclosure deficiencies, accountability failures and laboratory abuses including fatal botched surgeries on dogs at the McGuire Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Richmond, Virginia.
During an interview about WCW’s V.A. dog abuse investigation on Full Measure with Sharyl Atkisson, Congressman Vern Buchanan (R-FL)–a military veteran and co-chair of the House Animal Protection Caucus– announced that he has fired off a letter to Department of Veterans Affairs Inspector General Michael Missal requesting an investigation into dog experimentation at the agency. As reported in the Daily Caller, Roll Call, and other national outlets, Rep. Buchanan’s letter reads, in part:
[t]hese disturbing and controversial experiments on dogs include everything from inducing heart attacks to invasive brain-damaging surgeries, which can leave the animals severely maimed or dead.
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I also am concerned about the lack of transparency surrounding these experiments. Information about the results of these experiments isn’t readily available to the public, according to press reports, and anything done with taxpayer dollars should be done with full disclosure to the public.
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I am interested in learning why these experiments are not being adequately disclosed to the public, whether animals are being harmed unnecessarily and whether taxpayer dollars me being misused