How We Can Be Healthier Without Francis Collins: PETA Statement

For Immediate Release:
October 5, 2021

Contact:
Tasgola Bruner 202-483-7382

Washington –

Please see the following statement from PETA Senior Vice President Kathy Guillermo regarding the departure at year’s end of National Institutes of Health Director Francis Collins:

The ink was not even dry on the contract for a new campaigns office that PETA was leasing on Capitol Hill to escalate its campaign to boot Francis Collins out of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) because of his refusal to replace failed animal experiments with state-of-the-art non-animal technology. Now it’s time to modernize the outdated bureaucracy that NIH has become. From rampant animal welfare abuses at the agency’s own intramural laboratories and its continued funding of science that is ethically and scientifically problematic to its failure to address systemic racism in funding, Collins’ departure is a plus for the future of research. President Joe Biden must find a leader who understands the bigger picture: that protecting human health, securing our nation’s role as a leader in innovation, addressing disparities within the scientific community, and preventing the next pandemic have everything to do with eliminating our reliance on animal experiments and prioritizing human-relevant, animal-free research.

Collins’ resignation comes after PETA urged Secretary of Health and Human Services Xavier Becerra to fire him, citing NIH’s disproportionate funding of animal experiments that fail to lead to treatments and cures for humans. PETA also protested in front of Collins’ home, calling on him to resign. The organization published a high-profile opinion piece that ran in the Miami Herald and other newspapers demanding new leadership at NIH; ran full-page ads in Washington, D.C., media outlets stating, “Francis Collins Must Go”; and urged our supporters to call for his resignation.

For more information on PETA’s investigative newsgathering and reporting, please visit PETA.org or follow the group on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram.