Last year, White Coat Waste Project (WCW) released its Toxic Testing report, exposing painful, secretive, and wasteful chemical tests on hundreds of thousands of animals by the National Toxicology Program (NTP).  Now, Congress is demanding answers after hitting roadblocks in its own attempts to learn more about the controversial program.

The National Toxicology Program uses tax dollars to force animals to breathe chemicals and other substances in inhalation chambers like these.

As first reported by leading industry outlet Chemical Watch, Congressman Ken Calvert (R-CA) has sent a letter to the NTP’s director requesting details about its multi-million-dollar animal testing–and efforts to curtail it–after unsuccessful attempts to obtain basic information about the costs and operations of the program from public sources, and even from the Congressional Research Service. In his letter, Rep. Calvert writes that, “This information is critical to Congress performing its oversight functions to ensure taxpayer dollars are being used judiciously, laws are being followed and animals are being treated humanely”

Some of the ludicrous NTP animal tests that Americans have been forced to pay for because of the agency’s lack of transparency and accountability include spending $25 million to blast 3,000 rats and mice with massive amounts of cell phone radiation, and force-feeding animals cosmetics ingredients, coffee byproducts and “abortion herbs” in contrived experiments that mislead regulators and are completely irrelevant to human health.

WCW VP Justin Goodman briefs Congress on the “Toxic Testing” report about wasteful NTP animal testing in May 2018.

Rep. Calvert–a WCW Congressional Waste Warrior awardee–is a senior member of the powerful House Appropriations Committee that funds the NTP and other agencies. During the last two Congressional sessions, he has introduced the bipartisan FACT Act to improve reporting requirements for animal testing at the NTP and other agencies and for years has spearheaded successful efforts to curb animal testing at the Environmental Protection Agency.

If you haven’t yet, urge your Members of Congress to cosponsor Rep. Calvert’s FACT Act to improve transparency about taxpayer-funded animal testing!