People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) has confronted the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to address an ongoing list of animal welfare violations.
QUICK FACTS:
- PETA is now coming after the NIH not only for the 120 violations it uncovered in the past several years, but 17 additional ones, Breitbart reported.
- The animal activist group listed each violation in a letter, ranging from drugging animals to killing them to leaving mice dehydrated and starved.
- The letter, which was written to Dr. Nina Schor, the acting deputy director for Intramural Research at the NIH, called on the institute to “address what is an indelible stain on NIH’s reputation.”
- PETA Vice President Dr. Alka Chandna said that the NIH believes it is above the law.
- “From the employees who fail to provide food and water to animals – allowing them to die of starvation or thirst – to the elite lead experimenters who’ve somehow decided they’re above the law and can do whatever they please with animals,” Chanda said. “It’s clear that lack of compassion for tens of thousands of vulnerable animals in NIH’s laboratories – including dogs, monkeys, and rabbits – is woven through the fabric of the agency.”
PETA VICE PRESIDENT ON THE NIH’S UNETHICAL TREATMENT OF ANIMALS:
“NIH can’t be bothered to even seem to care about the problems in its laboratories,” said Chandna.
BACKGROUND:
- The NIH has a long history of poorly treating animals and in February 2022. NIH Director Dr. Anthony Fauci was targeted by PETA due to alleged experiments he oversaw involving torturing beagles.
- Concern over the treatment of beagles came to light after a report from the White Coat Waste Project citing the use of beagles who were being tested on with cocaine.
- “Fauci has overseen the torment and death of countless animals in colossally ridiculous, wasteful experiments that help no one but kill animals by the score. He should be reminded of that constantly,” PETA Senior Vice President Kathy Guillermo said at the time.
- In 2020, the same group released a video revealing an experiment done by the NIH in which researchers essentially gave monkeys brain damage and practiced psychological torture with fake snakes and spiders.
