INSTANT IMPACT: Citing WCW, 37 bipartisan lawmakers criticize EPA animal testing reversal

Posted by Amanda Nieves
05 February 2024 | Blog

 

  • A blockbuster White Coat Waste Project investigation exposed how the EPA has completely “stripped out” a 2019 plan to end animal tests by 2035 and is killing lab bunnies it was supposed to retire.
  • Now, WCW has united 37 Democrats and Republicans in Congress to demand answers from Joe Biden’s EPA head Michael Regan about his agency’s senseless backpedaling that wastes animals’ lives and millions of tax dollars
  • Prior to the reversal, Regan pledged under oath to support efforts to cut animal tests

Last month, a White Coat Waste Project (WCW) blockbuster investigation exposed how President Joe Biden’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) reversed the agency’s historic and widely-supported plans to phase out all testing on mammals by 2035 and retire rabbits from its labs.

Now, citing WCW’s investigation, a bipartisan coalition of 37 Congressmembers led by Lisa McClain (R-MI) and Don Davis (D-NC) are demanding answers from the EPA.

In a letter to EPA Administrator Michael Regan, the three-dozen-plus lawmakers ask how, when, and why—despite Regan’s promise under oath during his confirmation to “remain strongly committed” to cutting animal testing—the EPA killed its plans to end animal tests and retire rabbits. The letter to Regan also requests details on the EPA’s animal testing since he took office in 2021. 

37 lawmakers criticize EPA

Rep. McClain and Davis’s letter to EPA was co-signed by 35 other Republicans and Democrats including:

  • Earl Blumenauer (D-OR)
  • Mike Carey (R-OH)
  • Joaquin Castro (D-TX)
  • Paul A. Gosar (R-AZ)
  • Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA)
  • Kay Granger (R-TX)
  • Raúl M. Grijalva (D-AZ)
  • Diana Harshbarger (R-TN)
  • John James (R-MI)
  • Dave Joyce (R-OH)
  • Sydney Kamlager-Dove (D-CA)
  • Young Kim (R-CA) 
  • Michael Lawler (R-NY)
  • Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX)
  • Barbara Lee (D-CA)
  • Stephen F. Lynch (D-MA)
  • Nicole Malliotakis (R-NY)
  • Brian Mast (R-FL)
  • Betty McCollum (D-MN)
  • Marcus J. Molinaro (R-NY)
  • James Moylan (R-GU)
  • Troy Nehls (R-TX)
  • Ralph Norman (R-SC) 
  • Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC)
  • Scott Perry (R-PA)
  • Dean Phillips (D-MN)
  • Delia C. Ramirez (D-IL)
  • Andrea Salinas (D-OR)
  • Gregory Steube (R-FL)
  • Claudia Tenney (R-NY)
  • Dina Titus (D-NV)
  • Jill Tokuda (D-HI)
  • David Valadao (R-CA)
  • Brandon WIlliams (R-NY)
  • Michael Waltz (R-FL)

37 lawmakers criticize EPA

Some of the EPA’s recent animal testing involves cruelly forcing animals to breathe smoke from handguns, rifles, and lab-simulated wildfires. WCW previously documented how the EPA abuses 20,000 animals annually for wasteful in-house tests, like making animals inhale diesel exhaust, and rallied bipartisan Congressional support to stop it.

37 lawmakers criticize EPA

In a recent op-ed, Regan’s predecessor—former EPA Administrator and current WCW advisor Andrew Wheeler—wrote, “I’m disheartened that the Biden administration has undone some of this important work to spare animals, save tax dollars and protect public health” and that the “decision to lean into animal testing is at odds with public opinion and good science.”

Is this how you want your money spent?

Tell Congress to reinstate the EPA’s rabbit retirement policy and plan to eliminate all testing on mammals by 2035!

 

Add a comment

*Please complete all fields correctly

Related Blogs

Posted by amcdonald | 16 September 2024
  WCW’s new Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) investigation reveals the National Institutes of Health has wasted $430,000 for abusive experiments on cats Cats confined at the Georgia Institute for...
Posted by amcdonald | 06 September 2024
  WCW’s new investigation reveals the National Institutes of Health (NIH) wasted $1,700,000 for devastating experiments on cats. The NIH has been funding a collaboration between Georgia Tech and Russian...
Posted by amcdonald | 05 September 2024
  Documents obtained by White Coat Waste Project provide new details about the dangerous $1 million bird flu gain-of-function experiments being conducted by the U.S. Department of Agriculture in collaboration...