Animal Welfare Initiative: The CARGO Act

For 40 years, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) has been sending taxpayer money by the billions to foreign laboratories around the world to bankroll some of the most atrocious, cruel, and pointless experiments on animals imaginable.

The bipartisan Cease Animal Research Grants Overseas (CARGO) Act (HR 1085) has been reintroduced in the House of Representatives by Reps. Troy Nehls (R-Texas-22) and Dina Titus (D-Nev.-01).

The CARGO Act would spare animals while improving science worldwide because experiments on animals overwhelmingly fail to lead to treatments for humans. A full 95% of new medications that test safe and effective on animals go on to fail in human trials.

In addition to ending overseas labs that torment and kill animals with little to no regulation on their abuse, The CARGO Act would also save money. NIH has shelled out about $2.2 billion in taxpayer funding to foreign labs, with almost no oversight.

What you can do: Contact your Federal Representative and urge them to support the CARGO Act (HR 1085)

Thanks to Dr. Michael Shafer for reviewing this article and agreeing that rarely do animal experiments translate to human health needs.