Following WCW Investigations, Lawmakers Target NSF Funding for Painful And Wasteful Animal Labs

Posted by Meg McCarney
09 January 2026 | Blog

 

  • Following White Coat Waste’s (WCW) investigations, Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) has introduced an amendment to defund the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) painful dog and cat experiments.
  • For years, WCW has exposed how the NSF funds labs that abuse dogs and cats, including inducing strokes in dogs, experimental drug tests involving repeated injections into puppies’ eyeballs, and making cats obese for weight loss drug tests. 
  • Last month, directly following WCW’s efforts, President Trump signed legislation cutting off funding for the military’s wasteful dog and cat tests. WCW’s campaigns previously defunded and eliminated dog and cat testing at the Department of Veterans Affairs. 
  • WCW’s investigations have uncovered tens of millions in wasteful NSF spending on animal testing that has been targeted for elimination by influential lawmakers, including Sens. Joni Ernst (R-IA) and Rand Paul (R-KY). 
  • Defunding all dog and cat experimentation is WCW’s top priority for the Trump administration. 

Prompted by years of White Coat Waste’s (WCW) investigations and campaigns, Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) has introduced an amendment to a 2026 spending bill to zero out funding for the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) painful dog and cat experiments.  

In recent years, WCW has exposed how the NSF funds cruel pet tests, including experimental drug tests involving repeated injections into puppies’ eyeballs. The NSF-funded lab purchased the dogs from the disgraced Ridglan Farms, one of the nation’s last large-scale breeders of beagles for taxpayer-funded experiments, which is shutting down this year amid allegations of felony animal cruelty and inhumane conditions. 

Documents obtained by WCW also show that millions in NSF grants to the University of Chicago have been funding deadly tests that induce strokes in beagles. 

Another WCW investigation in 2023 uncovered an NSF-funded lab at Auburn University that bred kittens, made them obese, and injected them with experimental weight loss drugs. Below is a video obtained by WCW of kittens bred for the Auburn experiments. 

For nearly a decade, WCW has been the driving force behind efforts to cut taxpayer funding for all dog and cat labs. Just last month, President Trump signed the 2026 defense policy bill, which included a bipartisan, WCW-backed measure slashing funding for the Pentagon’s experiments on dogs and cats. This WCW win marked the first time in history that Congress cut funding for the military’s pet tests.  

In recent years, WCW campaigns have also secured historic wins that eliminated testing on dogs and cats across the Department of Veterans Affairs. 

In addition to exposing the NSF’s funding for dog and cat labs, WCW’s investigations — and collaborations with waste warriors like Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) and DOGE Senate Caucus Chair Joni Ernst (R-IA) — have uncovered tens of millions in other senseless animal experiments that the agency paid for, including creating transgender lab miceforcing primates to play Plinko, and drilling into monkeys’ skulls with mad scientists in Iran. 

Hard-working Americans shouldn’t be forced to pay for wasteful and cruel animal labs. 

The solution is simple: 

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