Lawmakers want federal agencies to disclose info on adoptions and retirements for dogs, cats and primates that survive experiments. https://t.co/RkjqQECnGU
— Roll Call (@rollcall) July 27, 2018
When wasteful government animal experiments are defunded, canceled or completed, taxpayers want dogs, cats and primates who survive the abuse to be given a second chance in loving homes or sanctuaries. We bought them, and we want Uncle Sam to #GiveThemBack. That’s why White Coat Waste Project secured the retirement of monkeys to a sanctuary from a Food and Drug Administration nicotine laboratory, and is working with Congress to get dogs out of Department of Veterans Affairs labs and cats released from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s kitten slaughterhouse.
Clockwise L-R: Cat at USDA’s “kitten slaughterhouse” in Beltsville, MD; squirrel monkey in FDA’s now-defunct nicotine addiction lab; and a dog confined at the VA’s “maximum pain” lab in Richmond, VA.
Now, a powerful bipartisan coalition of over two dozen influential Congress members led by Reps. Erik Paulsen (R-MN) and Brendan Boyle (D-PA)–both 2017 WCW Waste Warriors–wants to see this happen across the entire federal government.
As it stands, helpless dogs, cats, and primates that are subjected to cruel government experiments spend their lives in a lab. I’m proud to lead a bipartisan push to get these animals into loving homes and sanctuaries after experimentation is done. https://t.co/pMt2IaxtiF
— Rep. Brendan Boyle (@CongBoyle) August 2, 2018
In a letter sent to eight agency heads this morning, the lawmakers–citing several of WCW’s victories, related state laws and support from the scientific community–wrote:
Our constituents are increasingly concerned about the welfare of animals used in federally-funded research and strongly support research animal adoption and retirement. We agree that cats, dogs and primates that survive taxpayer-funded government research should be provided with an opportunity to find suitable non-laboratory homes at the completion of studies.
The letter expresses concern about a lack of agency policies on this issue and requests information from the department heads on their use of dogs, cats and primates in experiments and any agency activity related to the retirement of animals no longer needed in experiments. The request was sent to agencies currently using thousands of these animals in experiments, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Department of Agriculture (USDA), Department of Defense (DOD), Department of the Interior (DOI), Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), Food and Drug Administration (FDA), National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Smithsonian Institution (SI). Days after the letter was sent, the VA confirmed a new policy encouraging the retirement of animals from its laboratories.
“Our constituents are increasingly concerned about the welfare of animals used in federally-funded research and strongly support research animal adoption” https://t.co/YsjkiEMPwU
— 8News WRIC Richmond (@8NEWS) August 1, 2018
Rep. Paulsen and Boyle’s letter was co-signed by a bipartisan coalition of influential lawmakers including (in alphabetical order) Mike Bishop (D-MI), Earl Blumenauer (D-OR), Lisa Blunt-Rochester (D-DE), Vern Buchanan (R-FL), Ken Calvert (R-CA), Tony Cardenas (D-CA), Yvette Clarke (D-NY), Wm. Lacy Clay (D-MO), Ryan Costello (R-PA), Daniel M. Donovan, Jr. (R-NY), Matt Gaetz (R-FL), Gene Green (D-TX), Raul M. Grijalva (D-AZ), Marcy Kaptur (D-OH), Derek Kilmer (D-WA), John Lewis (D-GA), Ted Lieu (D-CA), Alex Mooney (R-WV), Donald Norcross (D-NJ), Jimmy Panetta (D-CA), Lucille Roybal-Allard (D-CA), Carol Shea-Porter (D-NH), Dina Titus (D-NV), Dave Trott (R-MI), Fred Upton (R-MI) and Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL).