It seems that America's most renowned experts are in hot water as a group of lawmakers from both the Republican and Democratic parties seek answers from the National Institutes of Health and White House Chief Medical Advisor Anthony Fauci regarding funding provided for "horrific" experiments on Beagle puppies. A total of 24 members of the House of Representatives signed a letter addressed to Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, which is part of the National Institutes of Health, according to Newsweek.
**$1.68 Million Expenditure**
This comes after the non-profit group White Coat Waste obtained documents under the Freedom of Information Act showing that the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases spent $1.68 million of taxpayer money conducting horrible experiments on Beagle dogs in a lab in Tunisia. These experiments reportedly included testing drugs on animals, and in some cases, the dogs' vocal cords were removed to prevent them from barking. Furthermore, hundreds of flies were allowed to sting the faces of these poor dogs for hours as part of this horrifying experiment.
**Lawmakers' Concerns**
On October 21, lawmakers, led by Republican Representative Nancy Mace from South Carolina's 1st Congressional District, posed a series of questions to Fauci regarding this issue, seeking answers by November 19. They expressed grave concerns in their letter about reports related to expensive, cruel, and unnecessary experiments funded by taxpayers that were conducted on dogs commissioned by the National Institutes of Health.
The members of Congress noted that "from October 2018 to February 2019, the institute spent $1.68 million of taxpayer money on drug tests involving 44 Beagle puppies." They added that "the age of the dogs was between six and eight months. The tests included injecting them with experimental drugs and force-feeding them for several weeks before killing and dissecting them."
**Particularly Disturbing Practices**
They emphasized that "what is particularly concerning is the fact that the bill for the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases included a line item regarding 'vocal cord removal.' As you may know, vocal cord removal involves cutting a dog's vocal cords to prevent it from barking, howling, or crying." They pointed out that "this brutal procedure seems to have been implemented to spare the experimenters from having to hear the painful cries of the dogs."
**Outrage Over Misuse**
Members of Congress deemed this an outrageous misuse of taxpayer money. According to White Coat Waste on their website, there are four such experiments at four different locations worldwide. Lawmakers also want to know how many drug tests have been conducted on dogs since January 2018, what the costs are, and why these tests were performed despite the fact that the Food and Drug Administration does not require new drugs to be tested on dogs, alongside answers to other questions.
In addition to Nancy Mace, the following House members signed the letter: Cindy Axne, Cliff Bentz, Steve Cohen, Rick Crawford, Brian Fitzpatrick, Scott Franklin, Andrew Garbarino, Carlos Gimenez, Jimmy Gomez, Josh Gottheimer, Fred Keller, Ted Lieu, Lisa McClain, Nicole Malliotakis, Brian Mast, Eleanor Holmes Norton, Scott Perry, Bill Posey, Mike Quigley, Lucille Roybal-Allard, Maria Salazar, Terry Sewell, and Daniel Webster.
