U.S. Rep. Vern Buchanan honored for fighting cruel experiments on animals

U.S. Rep. Vern Buchanan has been honored as a “Congressional Waste Warrior” by White Coat Waste Project, a national organization that aims to end taxpayer-funded experiments on dogs, cats and other animals.

Buchanan received the award for his work to fight animal testing at government agencies, as well as his support for the Federal Accountability in Chemical Testing (FACT) Act.

“Congressman Vern Buchanan is an outstanding champion for taxpayers and animals,” said Justin Goodman, the organization’s vice president of advocacy and public policy.“We’re proud to recognize Rep. Buchanan’s strong leadership to end billions in wasteful government spending on animal experiments that are ineffective, cruel and most Americans oppose, including maximum pain heart attack tests on puppies and nicotine addiction tests on baby monkeys.”

White Coat Waste Project is a nonprofit dedicated to ending “cruel and wasteful” taxpayers-funded experimentation on animals. The coalition has almost half a million members across the country.

Buchanan said in a post on Twitter that he was honored to receive the award, adding, “Most Americans would be horrified to learn that their tax dollars are being wasted on cruel and inhumane experiments on animals.”

According to officials, some of the most outstanding examples of animal abuse that Buchanan is fighting include: the practice of injecting dogs with methamphetamine, then killing the dogs so their brains can be dissected and studied; strapping baby monkeys to chairs, addicting them to nicotine and then studying their response to decreasing levels of nicotine; performing surgeries to intentionally damage puppy hearts, forcing them to run on treadmills and then killing and dissecting the puppies to study the damaged heart’s response.

Buchanan’s record of defending animals include exposing disturbing practices on animals at the VA and opposing weaker protections for the Florida manatee and panther.

He was an original co-sponsor of the FACT act, which aims to improve the reporting by federal agencies on their progress in replacing animal testing with alternative methods. He is also co-chair of the Animal Protection Caucus, a group of more than 100 members of Congress dedicated to preventing animal cruelty and protecting endangered species.

This story was originally published December 26, 2017 at 11:26 AM with the headline "U.S. Rep. Vern Buchanan honored for fighting cruel experiments on animals."