Pennsylvania Legislator Cosponsors Bill to Ban NIH Funding of Cruel Foreign Animal Experiments

For Immediate Release:
August 31, 2023

Contact:
Tasgola Bruner 202-483-7382

Local U.S. representative Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.-01) has signed on as a cosponsor of the bipartisan H.R. 4757, the Cease Animal Research Grants Overseas (CARGO) Act, which would bar the National Institutes of Health (NIH) from funding animal tests in foreign laboratories. This follows PETA’s 18-month investigation into U.S.-funded animal experimenters in Colombia that led to the shutdown of two animal laboratories there.

Between 2011 and 2021, NIH gave approximately $2.2 billion in taxpayer funds to 200 foreign organizations for 1,357 grants and contracts involving experiments on animals. The money went to 45 countries, including China, Colombia, and Russia. The CARGO Act would terminate these U.S. government giveaways, saving the lives of countless animals who otherwise would have been victimized in experiments.

NIH has funded foreign laboratories in which experimenters addict dogs to opioids and force them to go through withdrawal, cause strokes in monkeys, remove mice’s eyes, infect bats with coronaviruses—potentially setting the stage for the next pandemic—feed amphetamines and alcohol to mice, force-feed toxic substances to beagles, and more.

“Since coming to Congress, I’ve been a staunch supporter of animals, and I am proud to serve as co-chair of the bipartisan Congressional Animal Protection Caucus,” says Fitzpatrick. “It’s unacceptable that animals are being abused in foreign laboratories and that we are paying the people who have caused their pain—the CARGO Act is the solution we need.”

“PETA thanks Rep. Fitzpatrick for his strong leadership,” says PETA Senior Vice President Kathy Guillermo. “It’s not often you get a bill that protects animals, science, and U.S. taxpayers all at once. The CARGO Act does just that.”

The bipartisan bill was introduced by Rep. Dina Titus (D-Nev.-01) and Rep. Troy Nehls (R-Texas-22) and has so far been cosponsored by representatives Brian Mast (R-Fla.-21), Nancy Mace (R-S.C.-01), Don Davis (D-N.C.-01), Guy Reschenthaler (R-Pa.-14), and Zachary Nunn (R-Iowa-03).

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to experiment on”—opposes speciesism, a human-supremacist worldview. For more information on PETA’s investigative newsgathering and reporting, please visit PETA.org, listen to The PETA Podcast, or follow the group on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram.