Win Alert for Taxpayers

Taxpayer, thank YOU—and everyone in our grassroots army—who donated, advocated, and spread the word to help us stop NIH’s assault on cats. We’ll keep you updated on our progress.

Now, I’d like to share this:   

“Inhumane primate test by the VA was scrapped even before it commenced, thanks to the advocacy and lobbying efforts of WCW.” 

— World Animal News 

WE WON! WCW has SHUT DOWN a Veterans Affairs lab that planned to:

• Fatten-up primates
• Induce an eye disorder
• Kill and dissect the monkeys

Your tax bill was $124K. Now, it’s ZERO!  

This confirms our strategy: the most effective way to stop an animal experiment is to stop it before the funding begins—exactly how we’re fighting to save the cats.  

Thank you, Taxpayer. See below. Your support just spared four more lives.   
  
You Give. We Win. They Survive.  

Anthony Bellotti President/Founder White Coat Waste Project

P.S. Taxpayer, I once worked in an animal lab. And I made a vow to end it. That’s why I founded WCW: the most effective organization for ending animal experiments. Thank you for investing in the winning team. Thx—AB  

P.P.S. Know what WCW really stands for? White Coat WINS. For the better part of the last decade (!), the big establishment animal groups have shut down a grand total of zero government primate labs. Here’s how YOU and I are ending the culture of losing.

STOP GOVT PRIMATE TESTING >>
WCW stopped this primate lab at the VA. To clean out all primates labs in the U.S. govt, contact Congress today!

VICTORY: Following WCW efforts, VA quietly cancels deadly primate experiments

• A new WCW investigation has confirmed that the Department of Veterans Affairs canceled plans to waste $124K to fatten up monkeys in order to induce an eye disorder and then kill and dissect them.
• The Charleston VA quietly canceled the wasteful project after WCW got Congress to enact legislation restricting VA spending on primate testing
• Congress just enacted historic WCW-backed bipartisan legislation directing the VA to eliminate all primate testing by 2026.
• No other animal protection organization has shut down a government primate laboratory in nearly a decade.

Following White Coat Waste Project’s (WCW) years of investigations, advocacy, and lobbying, Congress just enacted historic bipartisan legislation directing the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to eliminate all primate (and dog and cat) testing by 2026.

For more than five years, we’ve been working to find, expose, and defund the VA’s monkey business. We previously shut down the VA’s $7 million angel dust experiments on monkeys and its $9 million spine-severing tests on primates and convinced Congress to enact restrictions on VA spending for cruel primate tests every year since 2020.

Now, we’ve discovered that our efforts had a bigger impact than we knew and stopped at least one wasteful and inhumane primate experiment before it even started. 

As first reported by World Animal News, documents obtained by WCW via the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) show that in June 2020, soon after the WCW-backed spending restrictions were first put into place, white coats at the VA’s Charleston, South Carolina facility issued a $124,105 contract for primate experiments at the taxpayer-funded Oregon Health and Science University (OHSU), which has the dubious distinction of being one of the nation’s largest primate labs. 

The project was slated to run from June 2020 to June 2023. According to documents we obtained through FOIA, in the experiments, four monkeys would be “leased” by the VA from OHSU and “exposed to a high-fat diet” to accelerate “signs of age-related macular degeneration” and test treatments. The monkeys would then be killed and dissected. 

The Charleston VA–which is housed in the Congressional district represented by Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC), who has been leading efforts to defund VA primate testing–sent $76,850 of taxpayers’ money to OHSU in June 2020 for these wasteful primate experiments. However, in May 2021, $63,456 of that was refunded to the VA, and no other funds were allocated for the project. 

Now, in a recent email to WCW in response to a records request, OHSU confirmed that “this project was cancelled.” 

The spending restrictions that were enacted in 2020 by Congress following our efforts stopped this wasteful primate test in its tracks. The project didn’t pass muster and never received the mandated approval from the Secretary of the VA. 

We’re proud of this victory against the VA’s wasteful monkey business and our success at killing this cruel project in the crib.  

The solution to getting the government out of the primate testing business is simple: Stop the Money. Stop the Madness. 

Take a moment to send a pre-written email to Congress asking them to end primate testing across the entire federal government! 

STOP GOVT PRIMATE TESTING >>