Photo Op: Giant PETA ‘Mouse’ Will Appear at DNC to Challenge $22 Billion NIH Spends on Animal Tests Annually

For Immediate Release:
August 16, 2024

Contact:
Tasgola Bruner 202-483-7382

Starting Monday, a giant PETA “mouse” bearing the message “Save Me and $22 Billion: End NIH Animal Experiments!” will call on candidates and officials at the Democratic National Convention to end the National Institutes of Health’s (NIH) wasteful spending of billions of tax dollars every year on cruel and archaic experiments on animals that have remained funded for decades despite the existence of this century’s far more promising, state-of-the-art methods.

NIH squanders nearly half its annual budget on animal experiments—even though 90% of basic research, most of which involves animals, fails to lead to effective treatments for humans and 95% of new drugs that test safe and effective in animals go on to fail in humans, sometimes causing serious side effects such as anaphylaxis or even death.

“NIH flushes taxpayer money down the drain to prop up a broken ‘old boy’ network, harming animals in worthless experiments that benefit no one,” says PETA Senior Vice President Kathy Guillermo. “PETA calls on all candidates to redirect taxpayer money to research that leaves animals in peace and could actually produce treatments and cures for humans.”

Where: Outside McCormick Place, 2301 S. Martin Luther King Dr., and the United Center, 1901 W. Madison St., Chicago

When: Monday, Aug. 19 through Thursday, Aug. 22, starting at 9 a.m. CST each day

Interviews will be available on site and remotely. Photos of the event will be available via Dropbox after 1 p.m. on Monday.

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to experiment on”—points out that Every Animal Is Someone and offers free Empathy Kits for people who need a lesson in kindness.

For more information, please visit PETA.org or follow the group on X, Facebook, or Instagram.

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.