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End US Taxpayer Support For Animal Cruelty In Foreign Labs

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Sponsor: The Animal Rescue Site

American tax dollars should never bankroll animal suffering in foreign laboratories hidden behind weak oversight.

End US Taxpayer Support For Animal Cruelty In Foreign Labs

American taxpayers have helped fund animal experiments in foreign laboratories for years. A U.S. Government Accountability Office report found that the National Institutes of Health provided about $2.2 billion to foreign organizations for research involving animals for a full decade.1

Oversight Has Been Too Weak

The same GAO report found that NIH relied on annual self-reported information from funding recipients to monitor compliance at foreign research facilities, without verifying whether that information was reliable.1 That leaves too much room for suffering to go unseen and too little assurance that humane standards are truly enforced.

Advocates have pointed to disturbing examples of NIH-linked overseas animal research, including experiments involving severe pain and studies later retracted over welfare and data concerns.2 Other reports have described U.S. support for foreign animal labs operating far beyond public view, in places where transparency is weak and accountability is limited.34

Appropriators And Oversight Lawmakers Must Act

The House and Senate Labor-HHS Appropriations Subcommittees help decide how NIH money is spent, while the House Energy and Commerce Health Subcommittee and Senate HELP Committee oversee major health policy and NIH-related issues.5 These lawmakers should end NIH funding for animal experiments conducted in foreign laboratories and require stronger transparency and accountability for any overseas research tied to U.S. tax dollars.

Animals should not suffer in distant laboratories with American money behind it. The lawmakers who control NIH funding and oversight must close this loophole now.

Sign the petition and urge congressional appropriators and NIH oversight committees to end U.S.-funded animal cruelty overseas.

More on this issue:

  1. U.S. Government Accountability Office, U.S. Government Accountability Office (30 March 2023),"Animal Use in Research: NIH Should Strengthen Oversight of Projects It Funds at Foreign Facilities."
  2. Amanda Hays, PETA (14 February 2024),"U.S. Tax Money Pays for Cruel, Deadly, and Fraudulent Foreign Animal Tests."
  3. Valerie Richardson, The Washington Times (30 March 2023),"NIH Spent Billions Overseas on Animal Testing but Didn’t Police Anti-Cruelty Standards."
  4. One Green Planet (17 February 2021),"$6M for 6 Shocking Animal Experiments that U.S. Tax Dollars Funded Overseas."
  5. Animal Law Committee, New York City Bar Association (January 2026),"Supporting the Cease Animal Research Grants Overseas Act of 2025."
  6. House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform (6 February 2025),"Hearing Wrap Up: The Federal Government Wastes Millions of Taxpayer Dollars on Inapplicable, Unnecessary Testing that is Cruel to Animals."

The Petition

Dear Members of the House and Senate Labor-HHS Appropriations Subcommittees, the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health, and the Senate HELP Committee,

I am writing to urge you, as lawmakers with direct power over NIH funding and health-policy oversight, to take immediate action to stop U.S. tax dollars from funding animal experiments conducted in foreign laboratories.

The public has every right to expect accountability when federal money is used for research involving live animals. Yet a U.S. Government Accountability Office report found that the National Institutes of Health provided billions of dollars to foreign organizations for animal research over a ten-year period while relying heavily on self-reported compliance information to monitor whether humane standards were being followed. That is not enough.

When research takes place overseas, public visibility drops. Oversight becomes harder. Verification weakens. Animals can suffer far from the view of American taxpayers who are unknowingly paying for it.

Reports from watchdogs and advocacy groups have described experiments tied to severe pain, questionable welfare practices, and even retracted papers involving foreign laboratories supported with U.S. funds. Whatever one’s broader view of animal testing, there should be no debate about this: taxpayer money should not flow into settings where accountability is limited and humane treatment cannot be confidently assured.

You have the authority to change that. Appropriators can restrict how NIH funds are used. Oversight committees can investigate how those funds are monitored and demand stronger safeguards. Together, you can end NIH funding for animal experiments conducted in foreign laboratories and close the loophole that lets cruelty continue beyond meaningful scrutiny.

This is a matter of humanity and compassion. Animals used in experiments cannot speak for themselves. They depend on lawmakers to prevent avoidable suffering and to ensure that public funds are never used in ways that conceal abuse or evade responsibility.

Please act to stop U.S.-funded animal cruelty overseas and establish stronger protections and accountability standards for research tied to taxpayer money.

These actions will ensure a better future for all.

Sincerely,

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