An Op-Ed by Nicole Malliotakis and Anthony Bellotti. As published in the Daily Caller
Dr. Fauci’s wasteful spending on cruel animal testing was front and center recently as Congress grilled him on the COVID-era catastrophes he caused, from risky gain-of-function research to BeagleGate.
At the hearing, Fauci defended paying for puppies to be de-barked and poisoned and admitted for the first time that he personally signed off on the taxpayer-funded animal cruelty that we’ve been fighting together since 2021. We’ve even successfully united Republicans and Democrats to criticize and cut Fauci’s funding for beagle abuse.
Although Dr. Fauci is no longer in government, the issues surrounding animal testing persist, and we are working collaboratively to address them.
Earlier this year, the White Coat Waste Project uncovered a plan to revive previously halted kitten experiments, which had been discontinued five years ago under the Trump administration. Dr. Fauci, while still at the NIH, had allocated over $400,000 to a university lab in California to restart these experiments. However, due to the efforts of WCW, this plan was canceled, demonstrating the impact of continued oversight and advocacy.
Despite these efforts, many painful animal experiments approved during Dr. Fauci’s tenure continue to receive funding, costing taxpayers millions of dollars. Some of these projects, involving testing on kittens, have fortunately been halted. However, one lab that began receiving funding in 2021 will continue its work until 2025, using over $2 million to conduct COVID-19 research on healthy cats, which involves infecting, monitoring, and ultimately euthanizing them.
It is not just laboratory animals that are affected. There are instances in which pet dogs, surrendered by their owners, are used in these experiments. These animals are subjected to painful testing and, in some cases, are euthanized after the research is completed.
To address these issues, we have united lawmakers from both sides of the aisle to support the Preventing Animal Abuse and Waste (PAAW) Act. This legislation aims to cut taxpayer funding for the NIH’s painful experiments on cats and dogs and calls for more ethical and humane research practices.
We have recently worked together to pass legislation to end archaic testing on dogs and cats funded by the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Pentagon. The PAAW Act would ensure the NIH follows suit and stops spending our money to abuse pets in outdated experiments.
We’re also aiming to enact a bipartisan bill that would retire dogs, cats and other animals from government labs when testing ends and place them in loving homes. Sixteen states have enacted lab animal adoption laws, and it’s time for federal labs to follow suit.
Protecting animals from cruel testing is not a partisan issue and has broad support in Congress and across the country.
We believe it is imperative to reform the current system to protect animals and ensure that taxpayer money is used responsibly and ethically. By advocating for these changes, we hope to bring an end to unnecessary and inhumane animal testing practices.