Hearing Wrap Up: The Federal Government Wastes Millions of Taxpayer Dollars on Unapplicable, Unnecessary Testing that is Cruel to Animals

WASHINGTON—The Subcommittee on Cybersecurity, Information Technology, and Government Innovation held a hearing titled, “Transgender Lab Rats and Poisoned Puppies: Oversight of Taxpayer Funded Animal Cruelty.” Subcommittee members discussed how the federal government wastes millions of dollars on cruel and unnecessary animal research. Subcommittee members also discussed non-animal testing alternatives that more accurately model human biology and result in testing outcomes that are more useful for human patients.

Key Takeaways:

The federal government has wasted millions of taxpayer dollars on harmful animal research that prioritizes societal trends over scientific outcomes.

• Justin Goodman—Senior Vice President of the White Coat Waste Project—shed light on the exorbitant waste of American tax dollars on cruel animal research: “Many people don’t realize that the U.S. government is the single largest funder of animal testing in the country, and, in fact, the world. Based on government documents, we estimate that over $20 billion a year of taxpayers’ money is wasted on ineffective and inhumane tests on tens of millions of puppies, kittens and other animals in the U.S. and in hundreds of foreign laboratories. As we will discuss today, Congress and the public don’t have exact figures because oversight of taxpayer-funded animal testing is woefully inadequate.”

Animal testing is a cruel and outdated practice still used because it is preferred by established funding avenues. Researchers are realizing the limitations of animal-based studies and the practicality of innovative non-animal methods.

• Dr. Paul Locke—Professor at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health—highlighted the advancements currently underway which could eliminate the need for cruel animal testing and is more accurate for humans: “Scientific advancements have created multiple opportunities for us to develop and deploy more human centric techniques in toxicology and biomedical research and therefore call into question our current reliance on animal testing. Championing these non-animal methods is a win-win situation. It will allow us to not only to reduce the number of animals used, but also produce data that is more relevant to human health.”

Member Highlights: Subcommittee Chairwoman Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) discussed why the government is wasting millions in taxpayer dollars for many different types of experiments that are harmful and detrimental to animals.

Rep. Mace: “Why is the federal government spending millions of dollars to create transgender animals?”

Mr. Goodman: “A lot of the programs that are funded do latch on to some type of social trend and then animal experimenters use it as a money grab and an excuse to get NIH tax funds from some, in this case, DEI grants were used to fund a lot of this stuff. The people who abuse animals find some sort of excuse to bring in new money and they will switch their research program over to something that’s trendy to bring tax dollars into their university. That’s one of the big problem here is that colleges and universities are taking 25 to 40 percent off the top of every single one of these grants for indirect costs that goes into a slush fund that has nothing to do with the research, so experimenters do whatever they want to animals to keep the money flowing in.”

Rep. Eli Crane (R-Ariz.) highlighted the size and scope of the U.S. tax dollars used on animal testing.

Rep. Crane: “I want to start with you Mr. Goodman, you estimated over $20 billion dollars in taxpayer money has been wasted on ineffective animal research, is that correct?”

Mr. Goodman: “Yes.”

Rep. Crane: “Wow…Mr. Goodman did you also say that it was your estimation that $241 million dollars has been spent on transgender animal testing?”

Mr. Goodman: “Yes and I would say that is the floor, not the ceiling because the information on federal databases is pretty incomplete.”

Rep. Eric Burlison (R-Mo.) emphasized that new technological innovations like AI and quantum computing should be used to eliminate unethical animal testing.

Rep. Burlison: “Given the fact that we’ve got quantum computing, we have AI, is there opportunities where if we’re truly trying to do research and determine something, couldn’t they run a lot of this research through advanced technology?”

Mr. Goodman: “Absolutely and there are studies that have come out of Johns Hopkins and elsewhere showing that things like screening drugs and chemicals for human safety are actually much more accurate and efficient using computer modeling and AI rather than testing it on a lab rat.”