Political Quotes

“Mr. President, I am pleased to join my colleague from Michigan, Senator Peters, in introducing the Animal Freedom from Testing, Experiments, and Research Act, known as the AFTER Act, to promote the adoption or retirement of animals used for research at Federal agencies. I would also like to thank Senators Shaheen and McSally who are original cosponsors of this legislation. In fiscal year 2018, the Federal government experimented on approximately 50,000 animals for research purposes. The experiments occurred across twelve different Federal agencies and the animals used were mainly cats, dogs, monkeys, and rabbits. While tracking these animals following experimentation is challenging, once animals are no longer needed for research, they are often killed, since many agencies lack formal retirement or adoption policies. With that said, recent studies indicate that research animals who are adopted often thrive in their new environments. In 2013, led by Senators Harkin, Alexander, Cantwell and myself, the Senate passed the CHIMP Act, which allowed for the retirement of hundreds of primates that were formerly being used in National Institute of Health (NIH) experiments. In addition, the Departments of Defense, Veteran Affairs, and NIH recently enacted successful animal retirement policies.…”