Group of Bipartisan Lawmakers Demands Answers from Fauci After 'Reprehensible' NIAD Action
A bipartisan group of lawmakers is demanding answers from Dr. Anthony Fauci after a government watchdog group accused the agency he directs of funding unnecessarily cruel medical research that used beagle puppies.
The White Coat Waste Project, an organization that advocates against both government waste and medical testing on animals, had accused the Fauci and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases of appropriating taxpayer funds that were reportedly used to administer experiments on dogs in laboratories in Tunisia and elsewhere.
Fauci’s NIAD is part of the National Institutes of Health.
In a blog post on its website Oct. 12, the White Coast Waste Project shared what it said were documents that proved Fauci and his agency used taxpayer funds for research that included infecting dozens of puppies with parasites. The White Coat Waste Project said that similar testing had occurred three times previously, and that it had obtained that information through the Freedom of Information Act.
“This time, [National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases] spent $1.68 million of taxpayer money to poison and ‘de-bark’ 44 beagle puppies,” the group wrote. “Fauci’s taxpayer-funded white coats injected and force-fed the puppies an experimental drug for several weeks, before killing and dissecting them.”
“These dogs were subject to some of the cruelest treatment imaginable. In a procedure called a ‘cordectomy,’ sometimes called ‘de-barking,’ the puppies’ vocal cords were slashed,” the blog post stated.
The White Coat Waste Project added that in 2016, similar experiments were conducted on puppies at a lab in Bethesda, Maryland, where “infectious sand flies were strapped to beagles, and fed on them for 22 months.”
“The dogs developed infectious lesions, before Fauci’s staff killed and dissected them,” the post stated.
The letter further stated that the testing on beagles was unnecessary, because the drug in question had already been “extensively tested and confirmed…in different animal models such as mice…Mongolian gerbils…and rhesus macaques….”
A letter authored by Republican Rep. Nancy Mace of South Carolina and signed by 24 members of the House of Representatives, Republican and Democrat, called on Fauci to answer questions about any such testing that has occurred since 2018, The Hill reported Friday.
“We write with grave concerns about reports of costly, cruel, and unnecessary taxpayer-funded experiments on canine commissioned by Nationwide Institute of Allergy and Infectious Illnesses,” stated the letter, which cited the White Coat Waste Project and media coverage surrounding its claims.
In inquiring of Fauci’s agency’s alleged use the $1.68 to kill 44 beagles, the letter stated the animals were each “between six and eight months old.”
“The commissioned tests involved injecting and force-feeding the puppies an experimental drug for several weeks, before killing and dissecting them,” the letter stated. “Of explicit concern is the truth that the bill to NIAID included a line merchandise for ‘cordectomy.’”
“As you’re doubtless conscious, a cordectomy, also referred to as ‘devocalization,’ entails slitting a canine’s vocal cords with the intention to forestall them from barking, howling, or crying,” the letter also stated.
Bipartisan Letter To Dr. Fa… by Dylan Housman
“This cruel procedure — which is opposed with rare exceptions by the American Veterinary Medical Association, the American Animal Hospital Association and others — seems to have been performed so that experimenters would not have to listen to the pained cries of the beagle puppies. This is a reprehensible misuse of taxpayer funds.”
The lawmakers concluded that they want answers over how many tests were conducted on exactly how many dogs. Additionally, they asked for clarity of how much money was spent.
The letter also demanded to know if any dogs which were used for experiments were ever made available for adoption and asked about the medical necessity for such testing. The letter further reminded its recipients that the Food and Drug Administration does not require new drugs to be tested on dogs.
“We look forward to your prompt and thorough response,” the letter concluded.
The letter, dated Thursday, was written as the NIH admitted that taxpayer dollars were used to fund gain of function research on coronaviruses at the Wuhan Institute of Virology in Wuhan, China, prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. On Wednesday, NIH Principal Deputy Director Lawrence Tabak confirmed the funding in a letter to GOP Rep. James Comer of Kentucky.
???
July 28th NIH says “no NIAID funding was approved for Gain of Function research at the WIV.”
Obviously, they were lied to.
NIH confirmed today EcoHealth and the WIV conducted GOF research on bat coronaviruses.
@PeterDaszak with EcoHealth hid it from the USG. pic.twitter.com/Ou3ZLKto0L— Oversight Committee Republicans (@GOPoversight) October 20, 2021
Fauci had previously denied that U.S. taxpayer funds were used for such research.
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