$20 billions of taxpayer’s money is spent on animal testing in the US annually. It is (1) a wasteful use of precious tax-payers’ money and (2) it is damned cruel and (3) many animal experiments can’t translate to human benefit. There are alternatives. Humane and decent alternatives. They should focus on them and use them. Taxpayers shouldn’t be forced to pay $20 billion+ for wasteful government animal experiments. White Coat Waste Project’s goal is to stop this waste of public funds by draining the swamp: cutting federal spending that hurts animals and Americans, in their words.
Great name
The enigmatically named ‘White Coat Waste Project‘ (WCWP) campaigns for an end to this scandal. I’d idly wondered what the title of this organisation meant. It looks a bit odd when you first see it but when I think about it, it’s spot on.
Animal testing is carried out by ‘scientists’ (animal abusers?) in white lab coats. They are engaged in waste: the wasteful use of public funds and this organisation’s project is to stop it.
Success in stopping desperately cruel kitten experiments
WCWP are high profile and successful. A recent success is the report that ‘LA VA ends deadly tax-funded kitten tests’. WCWP have ended the activities of the Los Angeles Veterans Affairs laboratory’s animal experiments on kittens. Specifically, they stopped the following:
- Buying kittens and cats who lab notes describe as ‘friendly’;
- Drilling holes into their skulls and screwing in ‘head caps’ to restrain the cats during sleep experiments;
- Asphyxiating the cats while they slept by cutting off their oxygen;
- Injecting strychnine and other chemicals into their brains.
At the end of the years-long experiments, the cats were killed with a drug called Fatal-Plus. They had the blood drained from their bodies before their brains were removed for dissection
The move follows, in the words of WCWP: ‘our taxpayer watchdog group’s exposé, grassroots advocacy by 174K+ White Coat Waste Project supporters, our recent FOIA lawsuit win, and bipartisan congressional pressure.’
The Veterans Association is the last federal agency conducting animal tests on cats. Kitten experiments are still being conducted on kittens at Cleveland and Louisville facilities as I understand it.
WCWP said: ‘Veterans and others in Congress introduced bipartisan legislation called the CATS Act in the 116th to shut down the wasteful program that experts call ‘wasteful, cruel and unnecessary’.
Statement from Rep. Dina Titus (D-NV)
“It is sickening to use taxpayer dollars to perform deadly and outdated experiments on kittens. You don’t have to be a cat owner like I am to recognize that. “The Los Angeles VA’s humane decision to stop testing on cats is welcome news. I am proud to lead the CATS Act to permanently end the VA’s cruel and unnecessary tests on cats so that these resources can be redirected toward modern, ethical research that will improve veterans’ lives”
Statement from Daniel Lopez, Research Manager at 3-million-member taxpayer watchdog group White Coat Waste Project
“The Los Angeles VA’s decision to end its wasteful and cruel cat experiments is a significant win for taxpayers and animals. Our recent lawsuit revealed that the LA VA spent over $5 million on projects that included buying kittens and cats it described as “friendly,” drilling into their skulls, asphyxiating them, and forcing them to endure years of painful experiments before killing and dissecting them. After years of lobbying, investigations, and grassroots campaigning, we’re proud of this victory against wasteful taxpayer-funded animal abuse that’s opposed by doctors, veterans, and a majority of Americans. The VA’s labs in Cleveland and Louisville are now the last in the entire federal government that still waste tax money on painful cat tests and we will continue to work with Congress to pass the bipartisan CATS Act to send this kitten catastrophe to the litterbox forever.”
Today’s true heroes
The people of WCWP are todays’ true heroes. They fight the big government machine and callous big business. These people don’t care about animal welfare. They are focused on financial profit. To fight them is noble. It is dignified and it is necessary.
SOME MORE PAGES ON ANIMAL TESTING AND ASSOCIATED TOPICS:
