PETA Scientists Urge an End to U.S. Funding of Foreign Animal Experiments

3 min read

At a congressional briefing hosted by Rep. Troy Nehls (R-Texas-22), PETA scientists and a medical doctor warned Congress about the squandering of tax dollars on U.S.-funded foreign laboratories, where research misconduct and animal abuse are widespread. Our experts urged legislators to support the bipartisan Cease Animal Research Grants Overseas (CARGO) Act (HR 4757), which would ban the National Institutes of Health (NIH) from funding animal experimentation in other countries.

Each year, NIH hemorrhages $300 million by funding foreign laboratories’ experiments on animals. In these laboratories, experimenters have addicted dogs to opioids and rats to cocaine, force-fed highly toxic substances to beagles, caused strokes in monkeys, infected pigs and hamsters with parasites, crushed rabbits’ spinal cords, infected bats with harmful viruses transmissible to humans, and engaged in other horrors.

The speakers, including PETA scientists Dr. Alka Chandna and Dr. Katherine Roe and PETA Science Policy Advisor Dr. Donya Mand, pointed out the following:

• NIH doesn’t require that foreign laboratories abide by the same standards as those in the U.S., including being subject to mandatory inspections and establishing oversight committees to review proposed experiments and ensure compliance with laws. Most foreign laboratories are never even audited by NIH.
• Sixty-nine percent of research misconduct cases involve invasive experiments on animals, resulting in thousands of animals being harmed and killed for the propagation of misleading data.
• About 93% of scientific papers that were retracted for falsification of data and other misconduct were published by foreign experimenters. NIH has no mechanisms in place to investigate or impose penalties for research misconduct at foreign institutions.
• Investing in poorly designed studies, particularly those that use animals without rigorous oversight, wastes taxpayer dollars, squanders valuable intellectual and staff resources, and misses opportunities to advance alternative methods. These flawed studies slow progress and rob doctors of essential tools for providing effective care.

For instance, an 18-month PETA investigation into a laboratory in Colombia revealed that experimenters had violated animal care and use guidelines as well as local animal welfare laws, housed monkeys in filthy conditions and left them to die from infected wounds, and forced mice to engage in cannibalism—all while collecting more than $17 million of American taxpayers’ money without producing a single treatment or cure for humans.

The hard-hitting congressional briefing ended on a positive note, with several trailblazing U.S. representatives receiving awards from us for leading on the legislative front against speciesist science.

PETA Awards U.S. Reps for Their Outstanding Work to Protect Animals

Several U.S. representatives are on the right side of history and working with PETA to end the use of animals in experiments. We recognized their outstanding achievements with Congressional Leadership Awards.

PETA gave the awards to Reps. Dina Titus (D-Nev.-01) and Nehls—who introduced the CARGO Act—along with Sens. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) and Rand Paul (R-Ky.) for their groundbreaking work in animal protection. Both senators worked tirelessly to get the FDA Modernization Act 2.0 passed. PETA also gave Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.-03) a Lifetime Achievement Award for his many years of leadership—including as co-chair of the Congressional Animal Protection Caucus—and advocacy on behalf of animals.

What You Can Do

The CARGO Act would prevent waste and fraud common in animal laboratories and would allow for the funding of animal-free, human relevant research in the U.S. and all over the world. The bill would prevent taxpayer money from going to waste and would very likely lead to better science—and that means effective treatments for disease.

You can help make this happen by urging your U.S. representative to support this crucial bill:

Note: PETA supports animal rights and opposes all forms of animal exploitation and educates the public on those issues. PETA does not directly or indirectly participate or intervene in any political campaign on behalf of or in opposition to any candidate for public office or any political party.