Update (July 30, 2024): In a historic win for PETA, free speech, and government accountability, a U.S. appeals court ruled today that the National Institutes of Health (NIH) violated the First Amendment by blocking criticism of animal testing.
The decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit comes in response to a lawsuit brought by lawyers at the PETA Foundation, the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University, and the Animal Legal Defense Fund on behalf of PETA and activists Maddie Krasno and Ryan Hartkopf. It says NIH’s current and past blocking of keywords—including “monkey(s),” “cats,” “mouse,” “experiment,” “testing,” “PETA,” “torture,” and “revolting”—on its social media pages is illegal. This landmark decision reinforces that NIH can no longer distort public discourse over its work by censoring critics of cruel, pointless experiments on animals. Since, as the court explained, allowing NIH to block “words related to animal testing [as] categorically off-topic … defies common sense.”
What NIH allows Elisabeth Murray to do to monkeys under its own roof ranks right up there with the cruelest and most pointless experiments. Urge the agency to shut down her monkey terror lab. Then, tell NIH what you think about these experiments on its Facebook, Instagram, and X pages. Feel free to use the words “monkey(s),” “torture,” and “revolting.”
Originally published on September 9, 2021: The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has tried to conceal the suffering in its laboratories before, but in attempting to silence the public, it has reached a new low. After discovering that NIH and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) have been using keyword filters to block comments potentially critical of the agencies’ support of cruel experiments on animals—either funded or conducted by NIH—PETA is suing them for violating the First Amendment.
PETA Asks NIH: ‘Why So Secretive?’
PETA—along with the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University and the Animal Legal Defense Fund—filed the lawsuit on behalf of animal rights advocates, including PETA and two other individuals, whose comments condemning archaic experiments on monkeys were blocked from appearing on at least one of the agency’s social media pages. Through a Freedom of Information Act request, we found out just how far NIH will go to suppress legitimate criticism. Among other numerous words and phrases associated with animal rights, NIH’s keyword filters block “animal(s),” “chimpanzee(s),” “monkey(s),” “cats,” “mouse,” “experiment,” “testing,” “PETA,” “torture,” and “revolting.” The HHS also blocks all comments containing “monkey” from appearing on its social media pages.
The plaintiffs in the lawsuit include a former animal lab technician turned animal advocate and an engineer at a digital health company. In other words, NIH isn’t just suppressing criticism of its barbaric tests on animals—it’s potentially stifling discourse on medical research, science, and bioethics.
NIH Keeps Trying to Hide the Truth
Earlier this year, PETA sued NIH for repeatedly failing to respond to our requests to release documents on taxpayer-funded experiments conducted in its laboratories—including Elisabeth Murray’s notorious “monkey fright” tests, in which she cuts into monkeys’ heads, saws off a portion of their skulls, and then injects toxins into their brains to inflict traumatic brain damage before frightening them with realistic-looking rubber spiders and snakes.
Government agencies should not be suppressing the public’s right to speak up about their practices. Instead of trying to hide from criticism, NIH should simply end these barbaric experiments. Join PETA in calling for the agency to shut down Murray’s laboratory:
Victory! Major U.S. Court Says NIH Violated the First Amendment Rights of Animal Testing Critics
Update (July 30, 2024): In a historic win for PETA, free speech, and government accountability, a U.S. appeals court ruled today that the National Institutes of Health (NIH) violated the First Amendment by blocking criticism of animal testing.
The decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit comes in response to a lawsuit brought by lawyers at the PETA Foundation, the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University, and the Animal Legal Defense Fund on behalf of PETA and activists Maddie Krasno and Ryan Hartkopf. It says NIH’s current and past blocking of keywords—including “monkey(s),” “cats,” “mouse,” “experiment,” “testing,” “PETA,” “torture,” and “revolting”—on its social media pages is illegal. This landmark decision reinforces that NIH can no longer distort public discourse over its work by censoring critics of cruel, pointless experiments on animals. Since, as the court explained, allowing NIH to block “words related to animal testing [as] categorically off-topic … defies common sense.”
What NIH allows Elisabeth Murray to do to monkeys under its own roof ranks right up there with the cruelest and most pointless experiments. Urge the agency to shut down her monkey terror lab. Then, tell NIH what you think about these experiments on its Facebook, Instagram, and X pages. Feel free to use the words “monkey(s),” “torture,” and “revolting.”
Originally published on September 9, 2021: The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has tried to conceal the suffering in its laboratories before, but in attempting to silence the public, it has reached a new low. After discovering that NIH and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) have been using keyword filters to block comments potentially critical of the agencies’ support of cruel experiments on animals—either funded or conducted by NIH—PETA is suing them for violating the First Amendment.
PETA Asks NIH: ‘Why So Secretive?’
PETA—along with the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University and the Animal Legal Defense Fund—filed the lawsuit on behalf of animal rights advocates, including PETA and two other individuals, whose comments condemning archaic experiments on monkeys were blocked from appearing on at least one of the agency’s social media pages. Through a Freedom of Information Act request, we found out just how far NIH will go to suppress legitimate criticism. Among other numerous words and phrases associated with animal rights, NIH’s keyword filters block “animal(s),” “chimpanzee(s),” “monkey(s),” “cats,” “mouse,” “experiment,” “testing,” “PETA,” “torture,” and “revolting.” The HHS also blocks all comments containing “monkey” from appearing on its social media pages.
The plaintiffs in the lawsuit include a former animal lab technician turned animal advocate and an engineer at a digital health company. In other words, NIH isn’t just suppressing criticism of its barbaric tests on animals—it’s potentially stifling discourse on medical research, science, and bioethics.
NIH Keeps Trying to Hide the Truth
Earlier this year, PETA sued NIH for repeatedly failing to respond to our requests to release documents on taxpayer-funded experiments conducted in its laboratories—including Elisabeth Murray’s notorious “monkey fright” tests, in which she cuts into monkeys’ heads, saws off a portion of their skulls, and then injects toxins into their brains to inflict traumatic brain damage before frightening them with realistic-looking rubber spiders and snakes.
Government agencies should not be suppressing the public’s right to speak up about their practices. Instead of trying to hide from criticism, NIH should simply end these barbaric experiments. Join PETA in calling for the agency to shut down Murray’s laboratory:
“Almost all of us grew up eating meat, wearing leather, and going to circuses and zoos. We never considered the impact of these actions on the animals involved. For whatever reason, you are now asking the question: Why should animals have rights?”
— Ingrid E. Newkirk, PETA President and co-author of Animalkind