Earlier this year, White Coat Waste Project (WCW) convinced the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to cancel a $5.5 million nicotine addiction experiment on monkeys and relocate the primates to an accredited sanctuary.

Now, as reported by Science magazine, Washington Examiner, and VegNews, U.S. Congressmen Brendan Boyle (D-PA) and Matt Gaetz (R-FL) have sent a letter to FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb citing WCW’s victory and requesting that the agency review all of its primate testing with an eye towards reducing and replacing the widely-opposed and wasteful practice. WCW research shows that the FDA is currently experimenting on over 300 monkeys at two different facilities.

#Democrats and #Republicans band together to lobby the @FDA to end cruel primate testing in federal laboratories. We need more of this kind of #bipartisan collaboration! >> https://t.co/fCfD5MBEVD pic.twitter.com/EIAQvr80Ze

— VegNews Magazine (@VegNews) November 8, 2018

The lawmakers’ move also follows a report that U.S. primate testing is at an all-time high when public support for animal testing is at an all-time low.

The total number of monkeys in research labs has not changed much in the past few years, but more are being used in studies: https://t.co/V01Kr0rYos

— News from Science (@NewsfromScience) November 2, 2018

Rep. Gaetz was a vocal critic of the FDA’s nicotine tests on monkeys and vowed to keep fighting the practice.

Earlier this year, the FDA announced that it was canceling multi-million-dollar nicotine addiction tests on monkeys & sending the surviving animals to a sanctuary following an investigation by @WhiteCoatWaste & criticism from @KenCalvert @JeffFlake & me https://t.co/wp4HtFlaia

— Rep. Matt Gaetz (@RepMattGaetz) November 1, 2018

Reps. Boyle and Gaetz are also working with Congressional colleagues and WCW on a new bipartisan initiative to secure retirement for all primates, cats, and dogs in federal labs.