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By Jenna deJong
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During a House subcommittee hearing last week, Republican Representative Nancy Mace of South Carolina shared findings from a watchdog group that claims the U.S. government spent millions of taxpayer dollars on transgender animal studies.
Why It Matters
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During a February 6 hearing, Mace' the chairwoman of the House Subcommittee on Cybersecurity, Information Technology, and Government Innovation—shared findings from the White Coat Waste Project (WCW), a watchdog group focused on exposing and ending government-funded animal experimentation.
According the WCW's 2024 study, at least $10 million in taxpayer money was used on studies involving transgender animals.
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What To Know
During last week's hearing—which was titled "Transgender Lab Rats and Poisoned Puppies: Oversight of Taxpayer-Funded Animal Cruelty"—Mace said the WCW study reported that millions of dollars in federal funds were used to create transgender mice, rats and monkeys in experiments conducted at universities across the country.
Mace also criticized the previous presidential administration, stating: "The Biden-Harris Administration was so eager to propagate their radical gender ideology across all facets of American society that they did not pause to consider that such experiments are not only cruel, but unnecessary."
Justin Goodman, an executive WCW, was present as a witness during the hearing. When Mace asked him why the federal government was spending taxpayer dollars to create transgender animals, Goodman responded by saying that it was likely due to "societal trends."
"A lot of the programs that are funded do latch on to some type of social trend and then animal experimenters use it as a money grab and an excuse to get NIH [National Institutes of Health] tax funds from some, in this case, DEI grants were used to fund a lot of this stuff," he said.
Mace said $1.1 million was allocated to research whether female rats receiving testosterone therapy were more likely to overdose on drugs commonly associated with "chemsex" in the LGBTQ+ community. She also said, "Federal funds were also used to forcibly transition male monkeys to see if hormone therapy made them more susceptible to HIV."
What People Are Saying
Justin Goodman, senior vice president of the White Coat Waste Project, said during a February 6 House subcommittee hearing: "Many people don't realize that the U.S. government is the largest funder of animal testing both in the country and worldwide. Based on government documents, we estimate that over $20 billion in taxpayer money is spent annually on ineffective and inhumane experiments involving tens of millions of puppies, kittens, and other animals in the U.S. and in hundreds of foreign laboratories."
Dr. Paul Locke, a professor at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, said at the hearing: "Scientific progress has given us better tools for toxicology and biomedical research, making animal testing increasingly outdated. Embracing these alternatives is a win-win—it reduces animal use while providing data that better reflects human health."
Reporter Marisa Kabas wrote on Bluesky of Mace's subcommittee hearing: "It's just a guise to launder her vicious transphobia."
What Happens Next
Mace asserted that this issue is nonpartisan and urged for reforms to prevent future taxpayer funding of unnecessary animal experimentation.
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