We have some big news for you in our fight to cut FDA red tape: Following our campaign and an outpouring of support from our grassroots taxpayer advocates, a bipartisan coalition of lawmakers has just introduced WCW-backed legislation to give drug companies the freedom to avoid the Food and Drug Administration’s cruel, pointless, expensive, and harmful dog testing mandate.
That’s right, we now on our way to doing away with this seriously outdated red tape with no basis in science, that causes major harm to taxpayers, businesses… and of course thousands of puppies.
Current FDA requirements mandate that drug companies must use animal testing in drugs.https://t.co/kHOfYIket3
— One Green Planet (@OneGreenPlanet) November 16, 2020
Today, Waste Warriors Reps. Brendan Boyle (D-PA), Scott Perry (R-PA), and Madeleine Dean (D-PA) introduced H.R.8736, the Alternatives to Animals for Regulatory Fairness Act of 2020—known as the AARF Act (here’s the full bill text).
You may recall that all three were among a group of 18 bipartisan lawmakers who sent a letter to the FDA this summer criticizing its dog testing mandate.
It’s a very cute name for a very important bill that would explicitly allow drug makers to use high-tech alternatives to painful and deadly testing on puppies and other animals to demonstrate the safety and effectiveness of new drugs.
“Testing human drugs on dogs and other animals is inhumane, inefficient, and inaccurate,” said @RepDean, a co-sponsor of the bill. https://t.co/vxM4UAHz1Y
— STAT (@statnews) November 12, 2020
Indeed, now, the FDA abuses its authority by forcing drug companies to spend millions to make puppies as young as a week old to swallow and inhale experimental drugs every day for as long as a year, and then needlessly kill and dissect the young dogs. Often, no pain relief is provided.
About 20,000 puppies a year are killed for no reason other than to satisfy the government bureaucrats’ demands. And that’s even though these animal tests are not just expensive and extremely cruel—but, with a more than 90 percent failure rate, also completely crash and burn in their stated purpose of discerning which drugs are safe and effective, and which are not. That’s according to doctors, economists and even the government’s own scientists!
Outdated regulations are hampering a coronavirus cure https://t.co/AlZRpl1Yvz
— Washington Examiner (@dcexaminer) June 18, 2020
Mihael H. Polymeropoulos, M.D., President and CEO of Vanda Pharmaceuticals, knows all too well exactly how harmful this red tape is. The forward-looking company had successful human trials of a drug indefinitely suspended by the FDA because it refused to spend $750,000 to force feed puppies the drug every day for nine months and then kill and dissect them. The drug, tradipitant, now shows promise as a COVID-19 treatment, and might have been available for use without the FDA’s rigid and pointless adherence to its dog testing mandate.
That’s why, as WCW VP Justin Goodman says, the AARF Act is so important:
“We applaud Reps. Brendan Boyle, Scott Perry and Madeleine Dean for introducing the AARF Act to save dogs and other animals from wasteful and cruel government-mandated experiments, allow drug makers to avoid needless animal testing red tape, and get consumers safe drugs more quickly and inexpensively, a call with particular urgency during the COVID-19 pandemic.”
This measure is popular (you might even say pup-ular) too on both sides of the aisle.
The AARF Act’s introduction builds on grassroots and Congressional momentum that’s been growing like crazy, following the launch of our campaign.
- ???? More than 110,000 White Coat Waste Project supporters of all political persuasions have signed our petition demanding the Food and Drug Administration abolish its wasteful and cruel dog testing mandate, with more adding their names every day.
- ???? In July, powerful Republicans and Democrats in the House of Representatives sent a strongly worded letter to the FDA, writing that getting rid of the dog testing demand would “save time, money and dogs, and accelerate medical innovation.” The letter was led by Reps. Boyle and Perry, and signed by Reps. Dean and Gaetz.
- ???? The House Appropriations Committee unanimously passed their 2021 FDA funding bill, including a WCW-backed measure directing the agency to issue a report on how drug makers can avoid wasteful, slow, and costly dog testing mandates in favor of more efficient and effective alternatives, and to revise its outdated and burdensome regulations.
- ???? And in the Senate, WCW Waste Warrior Sens. Susan Collins (R-ME), a member of the FDA’s Senate funding panel, and Martha McSally (R-AZ) dispatched a letter to FDA Commissioner Stephen Hahn calling for the FDA to end its dog testing mandate.
Thank you to Reps. Brendan Boyle (D-PA), Scott Perry (R-PA), and Madeleine Dean (D-PA) for your outstanding leadership putting an end to the FDA’s burdensome and outdated dog testing mandate.
We are feeling pretty darn pup-timistic that the AARF Act has legs, given that this regulatory reform is urgently needed, will help taxpayers, businesses, and dogs, and has broad bipartisan support.
I’ve been working w/ @whitecoatwaste & @sensusancollins & @senmcsallyaz to end FDA rules that make drug co’s poison puppies ????big update today: the bipartisan AARF Act was intro’d by @CongBoyle @RepScottPerry @RepDean to let co’s use non-animal tests! https://t.co/zoPtvTpjra
— Louise Linton (@LouiseLinton) November 13, 2020
We will keep you updated on any new developments, as we usher the bill through the legislative process.