U.S. Senate Passes FDA Modernization Act 2.0
In the biggest legislative action for animals in the 117th Congress, the U.S. Senate passed our FDA Modernization Act 2.0 on Sept. 29, taking a major step toward a national policy that will dramatically reduce testing on dogs, primates, and other animals and that may trigger similar policy initiatives in other major industrialized nations.

Introduced by Sens. Rand Paul, R-Ky. and Cory Booker, D-N.J. our FDA Modernization Act 2.0 (S. 5002) will eliminate a federal mandate for animal testing for new drugs and biosimilars, including an anti-testing provision added by Sen. Ben Ray Lujan, D-N.M.

In June, the House passed its original version of the FDA Modernization Act, H.R. 2565, led by Reps. Vern Buchanan, R-Fla., Elaine Luria, D-Virg., Buddy Carter, R-Ga, Kurt Schrader, D-Ore., and Nancy Mace, R-S.C., as an amendment to a larger FDA legislative package. At about the same time, a key Senate committee amended and passed its version of the FDA Modernization Act, S. 2952, also as part of a larger package.

But final action on that broader FDA reform bill has been delayed. Bringing the right level of urgency to the problem of needless animal testing in drug development, Sens. Paul and Booker pushed S. 5002 as a stand-alone measure, with Sens. Mike Braun, R-Ind., Susan Collins, R-Me., Angus King, I-Me., Roger Marshall, R-Kansas, Alex Padilla, D-Calif., Mike Crapo, R-Idaho Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., Ben Ray Lujan, D-N.M., and Rick Scott, R-Fla., as cosponsors. It passed in an extraordinary show of bipartisan support for a substantive animal welfare reform. Senate HELP Committee Chair Patty Murray, D-Wash., and Ranking Member Richard Burr, R-N.C., played instrumental roles in the successful maneuver.

The House won’t be in session until after the election, but we expect to have that chamber clear the bill so it can be signed into law in November or December. We’ve ratcheted up attention on the issues with pieces in the Baltimore Sun, Louisville Courier-Journal, Kansas City Star, and Boulder Daily Camera. The Sinclair Broadcast Group, one of the largest television networks in the nation, also did a major investigation that exposed the problem just before the Senate vote. Our coalition is 200 organizations and corporations strong, including our partners at the Michelson Center for Public Policy.

Weeks before, we celebrated the Department of Justice’s legal demand for a contract-breeding lab to release 4,000 beagles mistreated, but we were mindful that this one-off action is no solution. Other contract breeders will increase production because the federal testing requirement makes demand for beagles inelastic. That’s why the FDA Modernization Act 2.0 is so vital.

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Senate Still Considering Big Cat Public Safety Act
Thanks in large part to our supporters, the Center for a Humane Economy can celebrate that the United States now only has two private, commercial cub-petting operations. Not long ago, that number was about 60. The downsizing of this tawdry sector of roadside animal attractions is a good thing for animals, and it came about through steady pressure from our organization and others working diligently on this problem.

But two commercial cub-petting operations is two too many. What’s more, there is still an epidemic of private citizens owning lions, tigers, cougars and other big cats — undomesticated predators who have no place outside of licensed facilities and under the care of trained professionals. The typical best-case scenario is their owners eventually must relinquish care of the animals when they become too big and dangerous to keep, turning them over to rescues where the lifelong cost of care for a single big cat can reach $1 million. The worst-case scenario is that the animals escape and pose a real and present danger to neighbors, requiring the emergency intervention of first responders which often ends in a cat with a bullet to the torso or brain.

We reported that the House took up and passed the Big Cat Public Safety Act, H.R. 263, at the end of July, and we immediately moved to have the Senate take up the measure after the August recess. We did so in early September, and three Senators placed “holds” on the bill. Two of those Senators lifted their holds after we lobbied them directly. Now just one Senator, James Lankford, R-Okla., is holding up the bill, even though his state has been at the center of the national controversy. (Joe Exotic, the big-cat owner in “Tiger King,” claimed he had 200 tigers at his Oklahoma facility before he was imprisoned for illegally killing some of the animals.)

We are continuing to work with partners like Big Cat Rescue and the National Sheriff’s Association to persuade Sen. Lankford to help us remedy this national crisis of private ownership of big cats in the wrong hands. The bill builds on the Captive Wildlife Safety Act, passed unanimously in 2003, banning commercial cub petting and breeding for the pet trade.

Congress Must Take Up Animal Cruelty Enforcement Act
Our senior veterinarian, Tom Pool, D.V.M., who is the former Territorial Veterinarian for Guam, wrote for the Pacific Daily News that he refused to sign import permits for adult roosters coming onto the island because he knew that they were illegal shipments with cockfighters at both ends of the transaction. An Animal Wellness investigation found 11,500 birds had been illegally shipped to the island from the states. The federal government, which has stepped up enforcement in certain areas, must have more capacity to address the scale of the animal cruelty problem in our nation and the Animal Cruelty Enforcement (ACE) Act, H.R. 1106, can deliver on that promise. The ACE Act seeks to create an Animal Cruelty Crimes section at the Department of Justice to allow for dedicated attention to animal fighting and other animal cruelty issues.

To support the ACE Act, go here.
 

• Amicus Brief of the Center for a Humane Economy, et al., in support of Prop 12 can be read here.
• Amicus Brief of Farm Animal Veterinarians in support of Prop 12  can be read here.
• Wayne Pacelle’s take-down of the Big Ag’s arguments is here.