Hours after Republican lawmakers sent a letter to National Institutes of Health Director Jay Bhattacharya asking him to end dog and cat testing, two top officials at the agency said they are “phasing out” testing on the animals.
Bhattacharya and NIH Deputy Director Nicole Kleinstreuer spoke with each other on an NIH video, in which the former asked the latter what they should do about dog and cat testing.
“I don’t think we should do research on dogs or cats,” she said. “Absolutely not.”
“To phase them out, we are working tirelessly behind the scenes,” she added. “We are doing a very critical assessment of the entire extramural grant portfolio to understand where different types of animals are being used and for what purposes, and to create an action plan to phase those out as quickly as possible under the law.”
House Republicans, including Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), Paul Gosar (R-AZ), Nancy Mace (R-SC), Pete Stauber (R-MN), Daniel Webster (R-FL), Scott Perry (R-PA), Michael Cloud (R-TX), Pat Fallon (R-TX), Harriet Hageman (R-WY), Eli Crane (R-AZ), and Chris Smith (R-NJ), sent a letter to Bhattacharya on Tuesday demanding that they end dog and cat testing.
“We are sending this request with considerable urgency because numerous media reports and ongoing investigations by the nonprofit group White Coat Waste have documented how the NIH continues to renew and fund dozens of Dr. Fauci’s disturbing experiments on dogs and cats in labs around the world, in which animals are infested with insects, infected with viruses, force-fed experimental drugs, and killed,” they said.
White Coat Waste, a government watchdog, celebrated the phasing out of dog and cat testing.
“Just 48 hours after Congress grilled NIH Director Jay Bhattacharya using exclusive White Coat Waste investigations, the NIH now says it will phase out dog and cat labs—a stunning reversal triggered by pressure from our relentless campaign to protect pets from government abuse,” WCW founder and President Anthony Bellotti told the Washington Examiner.
Kleinstreuer’s decision is a slight reversal of her stance in June, when she said the NIH had “no intention of just phasing out animal studies overnight. We know that animal studies are still very important and often scientifically justified.”
The NIH’s decision follows the Navy’s ending of all dog and cat testing in May. A Washington Examiner review of a report revealed at least $57 million in contracts from the Defense Department on dog and cat testing.
It is unclear whether the contracts are active or if they will be canceled.
The Washington Examiner contacted the NIH for comment but did not receive a response.
