In 1996, the rage of the people over the stealing of dogs for government research has paved way to the passage of the law called the federal Animal Welfare Act which basically controls the cure and rehabilitation for animals that are used in research and exhibits. However, the law has not blocked the research testing on dogs in America.
While rats and mice are used in most research laboratories around the world, the figures from the Department of Agriculture of the United Stated declared that in 2015, over 61,000 were utilized in experiments. Meanwhile, according to the report released by White Coat Waste Project on Tuesday, 1,183 of those were used in federal laboratories.
White Coat Waste Project is a bipartisan group that blocks the animal testing which are funded by the taxes in the government and pushes the government agencies to reveal further details in connection of animal research.
The group's reports focuses on dogs which are kept in the federal laboratories. It has found that at the National Institutes of Health, over half of the dogs were applied in tests. More so, others were also used in researches for the Department of Defense, Food and Drug Administration, Centers for Disease Control
Justin Goodman, White Coat Waste Project's Vice President for Advocacy and Transparency who had also worked for the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), said: "This is a discussion about government transparency, and if taxpayers are going to be forced to fund this work, which they are, we should at least know what's being done and how much it costs."
White Coat Waste Project's founder, Anthony Bellotti, is a Republican strategist who is experienced in supervising battles opposing Obamacare and federal funding allotted for the Planned Parenthood.
"We oppose taxpayer funding of animal experimentation. That's it. We don't take a position on cosmetics testing any more than we do on vegan nutrition," said Bellotti.
In the Baltimore Sun last year, the President of the Foundation for Biomedical Research Frankie L. Trull said that animal research is vital to the study of disease, and it is the primary reason why scientists have hope that they will be able to cure Ebola and other emerging infectious diseases.
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