This week, Secretary of the US Navy John Phelan terminated all the department’s testing on cats and dogs.
This came after a lengthy campaign from the White Coat Waste Project (WCW) with help from the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
“Today it gives me great pleasure to terminate all Department of the Navy’s testing on cats and dogs, saving taxpayer dollars and ending these inhumane studies. This is long overdue. In addition to this termination, I’m directing the surgeon general of the Navy to conduct a comprehensive review of all medical research programs to ensure they align with ethical guidelines, scientific necessity, and our core values of integrity and readiness,” Phelan said in a video posted to X as he signed the policy.
🍾BREAKING VICTORY!
— White Coat Waste (@WhiteCoatWaste) May 28, 2025
Following a WCW campaign & advocacy from @LauraLoomer & @elonmusk, the @USNavy has banned all dog & cat testing!
👏Thank you @SECNAV @SecDef @POTUS & @DOGE for your outstanding leadership that will save pets & tax dollars! https://t.co/xm2t6IZeJ9
This move came shortly after the National Institute of Health (NIH) Director Jay Bhattacharya announced that the agency shuttered its in-house beagle laboratories. Over the course of 40 years, thousands of beagles were murdered in the labs for experiments, as Townhall covered.
Last month, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced that it planned to phase out animal testing in drug development. The agency specified that they planned to replace animal testing in the development of monoclonal antibody therapies and other drugs with "human-relevant methods,” as Townhall also covered.
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“We’re thrilled that 10 days after the Trump DOD canceled a $10 million Navy contract for cruel cat tests exposed by White Coat Waste, the U.S. Navy is now banning all wasteful experiments on dogs and cats following our investigations and campaign," Anthony Bellotti, the President and Founder of WCW said in a statement.
"Taxpayers shouldn’t be forced to pay for pet abuse in Navy-funded labs, and now, thanks to a White Coat Waste campaign, including powerful advocacy from Elon Musk, Laura Loomer, Rep. Nancy Mace, military veterans, and others, they won’t have to," he added. "We applaud Secretary Phelan, Secretary Hegseth, and President Trump for first slashing the US government’s largest dog lab and now sending the Pentagon's cat and dog abuse to the litterbox of history. Defunding dog and cat labs has been our top priority for Trump 47."
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