Nearly two dozen members of Congress are demanding answers after the discovery that U.S. taxpayer funds may have been used to fund cruel experiments on beagles. The White Coat Waste Project, a non-profit organization, has stated that they discovered the beagle experiments after requesting documents through the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA); the documents showed that approximately four dozen beagles were killed in the experiments, which took place between 2018 and early 2019 in Tunisia.
The non-profit organization details what their investigators found about the alleged experiments:
“Our investigators show that Fauci’s NIH division shipped part of a $375,800 grant to a lab in Tunisia to drug beagles and lock their heads in mesh cages filled with hungry sand flies so that the insects could eat them alive. They also locked beagles alone in cages in the desert overnight for nine consecutive nights to use them as bait to attract infectious sand flies.”
The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases division of the National Institute of Health, specifically Dr. Anthony Fauci, received a letter from Rep. Nancy Mace (R), which was also signed by both Democrats and Republican members of Congress, including Reps. Cindy Axne (D-Iowa), Cliff Bentz (R-Ore.), Steve Cohen (D-Tenn.), Rick Crawford (R-Ark.), Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.), Scott Franklin (R-Fla.), Andrew Garbarino (R-N.Y.), Carlos Gimenez (R-Fla.), Jimmy Gomez (D-Calif.), Josh Gottheimer (D-N.J.), Fred Keller (R-Pa.), Ted Lieu (D-Calif.), Lisa McClain (R-Mich.), Nicole Malliotakis (R-N.Y.), Brian Mast (R-Fla.), Scott Perry (R-Pa.), Bill Posey (R-Fla.), Mike Quigley (D-Ill.), Lucille Roybal-Allard (D-Calif.), Maria E. Salazar (R-Fla.), Terri Sewell (D-Ala.), Daniel Webster (R-Fla.) and Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.), detailing “grave concerns” about the experiments that were conducted on the dogs.
The letter asks questions, including:
How many drug tests, involving dogs, have been funded by NIAID since January 2018?
And:
Has NIAID ever made any dogs available for adoption after the conclusion of an experiment or testing? If so, how many? If no, why not?
The letter highlights a particular procedure on the beagles which is concerning:
Of particular concern is the fact that the invoice to NIAID included a line item for ‘cordectomy.’ As you are likely aware, a cordectomy, also known as ‘devocalization,’ involves slitting a dog’s vocal cords in order to prevent them from barking, howling, or crying.”
Why were these experiments being conducted? It is reported that they were conducted to test an experimental drug on the dogs after they were infected with a mosquito-borne parasitic infection. As reported by Snopes, experiments on the vaccines were already conducted years before…which technically should have made the beagle testing unnecessary.
Snopes reports:
It is true that obligated funds were issued by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in the amount of $424,555 for research conducted at the University of Georgia to test the efficacy of a potential vaccine for lymphatic filariasis on beagle subjects. However, it is unclear whether Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) at NIH, personally approved the project. Research conducted on behalf of NIAID is funded in large part through annual funds allocated by Congress and the president. A University of Georgia spokesperson indicated that testing on dogs was, in fact, necessary, and that all humane standards set by applicable agencies were adhered to.
On Tuesday, after the creation of this article, HITC reports that NIH contacted the Daily Mail to let them know that the image of the beagles with their heads in mesh boxes was mistakenly attributed to NIAID. The statement says:
“The images of beagles were drawn from a manuscript published in July 2021 in the journal PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases. The manuscript mistakenly cited support from NIAID, when in fact NIAID did not support this specific research shown in the images of the beagles being circulated.”
However, the agency’s spokesperson did confirm that vocal cordectomies are performed:
“Vocal cordectomies, conducted humanely under anesthesia, may be used in research facilities where numerous dogs are present.”
The denial that NIAID was involved in this particular experimentation has not deterred organizations from calling on NIH to halt animal experiments. The non-profit group, The Beagle Freedom Project, sent a letter to Dr. Fauci demanding an end to unnecessary animal testing.
A portion of the letter, which is published on TMZ, reads:
We are calling on YOU and your organization, the National Institute of Health to
immediately STOP funding any research that uses animals.
As I am sure you are aware, your very own agency published this very informative article by
respected M.D., M.P.H., Aysha Akhtar about The Flaws and Human Harms of Animal
Experimentation. Camb Q Healthc Ethics. 2015 Oct; 24(4): 407–419. In short, it states:
“….animal experimentation often significantly harms humans through misleading safety studies, potential abandonment of effective therapeutics, and direction of resources away from more effective testing methods. The resulting evidence suggests that the collective harms and costs to humans from animal experimentation outweigh potential benefits and that resources would be better invested in developing human-based testing methods.”
Read the full letter here.
On October 25, PETA issued a statement about the alleged beagle testing as well, and they want to see President Biden appoint a new director to NIH. PETA said:
It’s crucial that the president appoint a new NIH director who puts America’s health first and firmly says no to all the animal experimenters who have been driving policy at the agency for the last decade. The areas that can actually help humans must be funded, including epidemiological studies, in vitro work using human cells, integrative modeling and molecular simulations or three-dimensional printed human tissues, cell-based assays, and organs-on-a-chip.
Read the full PETA release at this link.
The White Coat Waste Project website details what their organization is about:
To STOP taxpayer-funded experiments on dogs, monkeys, cats and other animals, we must stop wasteful government spending. Our approach? Drain the swamp: cut federal spending that hurts animals and Americans.
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We must put a stop to this cruelty!
These experiments are beyond twisted. Everyone who had a hand in this depravity from Fauci on down needs to be held accountable and should receive the severest punishment possible.
That Fauci needs to stop those animal experiments ASAP. What the hell is wrong with him? Seriously! There is something definitely wrong with him. Stop wasting money for no damm reason. There definitely is no need for this at all. He, and his workers are awful, awful terrible people. Leave these dogs alone, and let them be adopted out to very good homes, because they deserve it.
Fauci needs to be held accountable and punished as they would any other person who abused animals. Heads should roll over this one and I hope all the animal activists get involved He should be FIRED IMMEDIATELY.
PETA and BEAGLE FREEDOM PROJECT have been talking with legislators for years to try to get these beagles into homes and put an end to animal testing. I have adopted a beagle who had been in a testing lab. He is wonderful but scared to death of everything. About $20 billion dollars are spent each year for testing on animals. Your tax dollars are wasted and our souls have been damaged by this cruelty. END THIS NOW!
These experiments are cruel, inhumane and a huge waste of tax payer dollars! What does such sadistic testing prove? What is wrong with Dr. Fauci? More then stepping down, he needs to be investigated.
As a taxpayer I am appalled people are starving in the US, yet we are forced to fund useless experimentation on animals
EXPERIMENTS ON ANIMALS ARE NOT NEEDED!! THERE IS NON ANIMAL TESTING THAT IS PROVEN AS A BETTER METHOD!! STOP THIS CRUELTY NOW!!!.
WHAT A CRUEL UNJUSTIFIED SOCIETY THE WORLD IS, TO ANY LIVING CREATURE!!!
THIS HAS TO STOP….NOW!!!!
Experiments on beagles have been taking place for DECADES on U.S. soil, and for what purpose? There is absolutely NO PURPOSE other than GREED! What soulless, twisted person can actually perform the experiments? Past the time to make those who fund, attempt to justify, and perform the experiments to pay—-Do unto them….
I’m starting to believe that humans enjoy torturing animals. I have alot more I could say but Facebook threatened to pit me on restriction
These experiments are useless, wasteful and inhumane. Those monsters who are conducting them are soulless devils. Stop this horror now!
there’s no valid explanation of why this is “necessary”.
Stop this inhumane cruelty to these poor ” BEAGLES ” !!!!!!!!!!! Plus to all these other animals !!!!!!!!! It’s very shameful & very, very disrespectful to everybody. My GOD!!!! Even GOD would never allow this torture ever to these poor babies.This type of treatment is not humane !!!!!!!! How would these people like to have this testing done on them ?? They have no feeling what so ever when they do this to a animal. These poor beagles suffered a very, very , very horrible death by sand flies in white cages to be eaten alive. These labs need to get shut down. The people that did this are not humane. They need to be put all in jail. ” PLEASE SHUT ALL OF THESE LABS DOWN, NOW !!!!!!!
My God how can you be so cruel to these presious animals!!!! I am disgusted to hear this!!!! How would you like to be eaten alive and your vocal cords cut so nobody hears your cries of pain!!!!!! THIS MUST STOP NOW!!!!! EVERYONE INVOLVED SHOULD BE PUT IN JAIL FOR EACH ANIMAL KILLED AND TORTURED!!!!!!!!!
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