- A blockbuster White Coat Waste Project investigation exposed how the EPA has completely “stripped out” a 2019 plan to end all tests on dogs and other mammals by 2035 and is killing lab bunnies it was supposed to retire.
- Now, WCW has united 37 Democrats and Republicans in Congress to demand answers from Joe Biden’s EPA head Michael Regan about his agency’s senseless backpedaling that wastes animals’ lives and millions of tax dollars
- Prior to the reversal, Regan pledged under oath to support efforts to cut animal tests
Last month, a White Coat Waste Project (WCW) blockbuster investigation exposed how President Joe Biden’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) reversed the agency’s historic and widely-supported plans to phase out all testing on mammals by 2035 and retire rabbits from its labs.
Now, citing WCW’s investigation, a bipartisan coalition of 37 Congressmembers led by Lisa McClain (R-MI) and Don Davis (D-NC) are demanding answers from the EPA.
In a letter to EPA Administrator Michael Regan, the three-dozen-plus lawmakers ask how, when, and why—despite Regan’s promise under oath during his confirmation to “remain strongly committed” to cutting animal testing—the Biden EPA killed the Trump-era plans to end all tests on dogs and other mammals and retire rabbits. The letter to Regan also requests details on the EPA’s animal testing since he took office in 2021.
Rep. McClain and Davis’s letter to EPA was co-signed by 35 other Republicans and Democrats including:
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Some of the EPA’s recent animal testing involves cruelly forcing animals to breathe smoke from handguns, rifles, and lab-simulated wildfires. WCW previously documented how the EPA abuses 20,000 animals annually for wasteful in-house tests, like making animals inhale diesel exhaust, and rallied bipartisan Congressional support to stop it.
In a recent op-ed, Regan’s predecessor—former EPA Administrator and current WCW advisor Andrew Wheeler—wrote, “I’m disheartened that the Biden administration has undone some of this important work to spare animals, save tax dollars and protect public health” and that the “decision to lean into animal testing is at odds with public opinion and good science.”