Federal Funding for Testing Involving Dogs, Other Animals Targeted by Lawmakers

A Florida congressman wants to end all taxpayer-sponsored medical research involving dogs after reports surfaced that the National Institutes of Health and other agencies used beagles in tests described by animal rights activists as horrific.The two-paragraph bill proposed this week by Representative Greg Steube, a Florida Republican, would make it illegal for the agency to use federal funds for the purpose of conducting biological, medical, or behavioral research that involves dogs of any breed.“Americans don’t want to enable the heinous abuse inflicted on puppies and dogs in the name of research,” Mr. Steube, who has four rescue dogs at home, said. “My legislation will cut every dime of NIH’s federal funding for these ruthless dog experiments.”Mr. Steube’s is not the first bill on the topic to surface since reports emerged last year that the institute, and specifically the division headed by Anthony Fauci, had been commissioning research that used beagles as test subjects for experiments. Their vocal cords were severed to prevent them from barking and they were infected with experimental drugs before being euthanized. In December, another Republican in Congress, Nancy Mace of South Carolina, introduced a bill that would ban Dr. Fauci’s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases from conducting the research cited, as well as any research that causes significant pain or distress to a dog. The bill is still pending; it has been co-sponsored by 16 other members of Congress, both Republican and Democrat.The legislative initiatives come after years of protest from a group calling itself the White Coat Waste Project, which aims to cut off what it says is $20 billion a year in government funding for research using dogs, monkeys, cats, and other animals. The group hailed Mr. Steube’s new bill as the “boldest dog-saving legislation we have ever seen.” “A supermajority of Americans across the political spectrum want Congress to cut NIH’s wasteful spending on dog experiments,” a representative of the White Coat Waste Project, Justin Goodman, said. “The solution is clear: Stop the money. Stop the madness.”According to the Department of Agriculture, which is required to annually assess the use of animals in testing, nearly 800,000 animals were used in laboratory research in America in fiscal year 2019. Of those, more than 58,000 were dogs, and about 16,000 of those dogs were subjected to some sort of pain in the course of the experiments.The White Coat Waste Project’s most recent victory was against a Virginia beagle-breeding facility operated by Envigo that was shuttered by federal authorities after reports of abuse and neglect were uncovered by the group working in tandem with People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.The experiments on beagles sourced from Envigo and described by the groups were so gruesome that they prompted several members of Congress to write the agriculture department and demand that it suspend Envigo’s license and confiscate more than 4,000 beagles being bred at its Cumberland, Virginia, kennels.Beagles are frequently used in medical testing for many of the same reasons that people prefer them as pets: They are small, relatively docile, and trusting of humans, and therefore less likely to bite researchers or otherwise fight back when subjected to pain. Researchers say the experiments are necessary in order to test the efficacy of drugs and other life-saving treatments before they are approved for human use.The justice department eventually intervened in the Envigo beagles case, forcing the facility’s parent company, Inotiv Inc., to close it for violations of the Animal Welfare Act. In making its case, the government said beagles at the facility were being killed instead of treated for minor conditions, nursing mothers were being denied food, and the food that was being provided to the animals contained maggots, mold, and feces. Inspectors also said puppies were dying from cold exposure, and overcrowded conditions led to frequent fighting among the animals.The justice department enlisted the help of the Humane Society of the United States, which late last month began to remove and rehome or reshelter the animals across the country. As of this week, the group says it has removed more than 1,100 of the animals and most are responding well to the transfer.“Despite the long day, the puppies perked up and immediately started bounding around their kennels and playing as soon as they settled in,” a senior director of the Society’s Animal Rescue Team, Jessica Johnson, said. “For these resilient puppies, hopefully their ear tattoos are the only reminders of their past.”Many of the dogs are available for adoption through the society or one of its partners.

Federal Funding for Testing Involving Dogs, Other Animals Targeted by Lawmakers

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