UPDATE (12/17/19): This bill was signed into law in December 2019 and the FDA’s plan to reduce primate testing and retirement primates to sanctuaries is due to Congress within 12 months.
ORIGINAL POST (5/7/19)
Last year, WCW ended wasteful $5.5 million nicotine addiction experiments on monkeys at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Now, thanks to WCW, lawmakers, and the majority of Americans that oppose this waste and abuse, Congress is taking action to end all taxpayer-funded primate testing at the FDA.
This monkey, pictured in a now-defunct FDA nicotine testing lab, was retired to sanctuary after a WCW campaign led to the cancellation of the experiments.
The U.S. House Appropriations Committee just passed its 2020 FDA spending bill, which includes language (see page 80) directing the FDA to formalize a plan for the reduction and replacement of its primate experiments, and the primates’ retirement to sanctuaries.
The first-ever measure was championed by subcommittee Chairman Rep. Sanford Bishop (D-GA), Rep. Ken Calvert (R-CA)–who helped expose and end the FDA’s nicotine tests–Rep. Lucille Roybal-Allard (D-CA), Rep. Dina Titus (D-NV) and Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) following discussions with WCW and calls and emails to Congress and FDA from over 1 million WCW supporters.
Spoke in support of the FY20 Agriculture Approps bill! I fought for bill language to strengthen support for nutrition & public health, to prohibit commercial horse slaughter, and to direct the FDA to reduce nonhuman primates in research and retire them to sanctuary. @AppropsDems pic.twitter.com/DOSlTsRaO5
— Rep. Lucille Roybal-Allard (@RepRoybalAllard) June 6, 2019
Federal documents analyzed by WCW show that from 2013 to 2018, the FDA used between 300-400 primates each year.
During the same six-year period, the FDA’s overall use of primates rose by 26 percent, and its use of primates in painful experiments grew by over 300 percent.
Last month, lawmakers passed a similar WCW-backed measure focused on ending primate tests at the National Institutes of Health. WCW’s #GiveThemBack campaign has also been pushing all federal labs to adopt out primates purchased with tax dollars.
Join the fight! Take a moment to urge the FDA and other agencies to end taxpayer-funded primate testing!
