Navy Secretary John C. Phelan recently announced that the United States Navy would no longer engage in animal testing on dogs and cats, saying it was "long overdue."
Secretary Phelan posted the announcement on X (formerly Twitter), adding, "Today it gives me great pleasure to terminate all Department of the Navy's testing on cats and dogs, ending these inhumane practices and saving taxpayer dollars. This is long overdue. I commend @POTUS, @SecDef, and @DOGE for bringing this to light."
In addition, Sec. Phelan said within the video that he would also instruct the Surgeon General of the Navy "to conduct a comprehensive review of all medical research programs to ensure that they align with ethical guidelines, scientific necessity, and our core values of integrity and readiness."
The Gateway Pundit reported on how testing on dogs and cats by the Navy was exposed by the activist group White Coat Waste through Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests, including a $10 million contract to study constipation and erectile dysfunction by performing inhumane experiments on cats.
Journalist and activist Laura Loomer amplified the discovery through her web show Loomer Unleashed, which garnered attention from several members of Congress and outgoing Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) leader Elon Musk.
"We’re thrilled that 10 days after the Trump DOD canceled cruel cat tests exposed by White Coat Waste, the U.S. Navy is now cutting all wasteful experiments on dogs and cats following our investigations and campaign," White Coat Waste President Anthony Bellotti told the Gateway Pundit, adding, "Taxpayers shouldn’t be forced to pay for pet abuse in Navy-funded labs, and now, thanks to a White Coat Waste campaign, including powerful advocacy from Elon Musk, Laura Loomer, Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC), military veterans, and others, they won’t have to."
In late April, Representative Vern Buchanan (R-FL) similarly praised the Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) decision to stop testing drugs on animals and switch to more advanced methods, including advanced computer simulations and artificial intelligence (AI), lab-grown human organoids, and "organs on a chip."
