U.S. taxpayers funded Chinese labs that carried out grisly experiments on beagle puppies

The federal government has been paying Chinese labs that carry out animal testing, including experiments that involved severing beagle puppies’ spines, to study how they would react to such a horrific injury.

The White Coat Waste Project, in an investigation first shared with The Washington Times, said 28 Chinese labs are approved to receive U.S. taxpayer money for animal testing. Among them are Sun Yat-Sen University and the Chinese Academy of Sciences, which carry out grisly experiments on beagles.

Video of some experiments, compiled by WCW, shows beagles whose spines had been severed crawling on their front paws with their rears dragging across the ground, unable to move normally.

Puppies as young as 1 day old were being “sacrificed” to obtain bone marrow material, WCW said.

The experiments are supposed to study the effects of severe spinal cord injuries.

WCW said that while the U.S. government uses those labs for experiments, there is no evidence that the dog tests were directly funded by American taxpayers.

WCW said Pharmaron, another Chinese lab, is spending U.S. taxpayer dollars on dog testing.

Three other U.S.-approved labs are run by WuXi AppTec, a firm that members of Congress have linked to the Chinese military. Two labs are run by the Chinese Academy of Sciences, which the U.S. government has said contributes to the Chinese military.

“It’s disgusting that the Biden-Harris administration is still sending American tax dollars to shady Chinese labs for unnecessary, unethical, and unsafe experiments on dogs and puppies,” said Rep. Nancy Mace, South Carolina Republican. “This needs to stop immediately. They must’ve forgotten what happened in Wuhan.”

That was a reference to U.S. funding that flowed to potentially risky research at the Wuhan Institute of Virology, the lab that some American agencies suspect leaked the coronavirus that causes COVID-19.

WCW was vital in exposing that funding and has been a persistent critic of Dr. Anthony Fauci, the former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

WCW said the ongoing funding for Chinese labs isn’t just a moral affront; it’s a security risk.

“Despite Fauci’s gain-of-function disaster that we exposed at the Wuhan animal lab, we’ve uncovered how the NIH is still shipping tax dollars to dozens of other Chinese labs that butcher beagles, poison puppies, threaten public health and compromise national security,” said Justin Goodman, senior vice president at WCW.

Last year, the Government Accountability Office, the government’s chief watchdog, found problems in the National Institutes of Health’s management of its research spending abroad.

GAO said it’s impossible to say how much U.S. money flows to researchers in China and elsewhere because the government doesn’t require recipients of taxpayer money to report on subcontractors who may be abroad.

Some members of Congress have been pushing to end all U.S. government funding for experiments on dogs and cats, whether conducted domestically or abroad.

Lawmakers are also considering legislation to end U.S. funding for animal labs in China and other adversarial nations.

Rep. Lisa McClain, Michigan Republican and sponsor of that bill, said it should be given another look after the latest revelations.

“American tax dollars should never go to the Wuhan Lab again or any others in China that pose national security risks,” she said.

Sen. Joni Ernst, Iowa Republican, announced Wednesday that she has introduced legislation to require annual reporting from federal agencies about how much funding they send to Chinese labs.

“It should not feel like herding cats to figure out how many tax dollars are funding batty experiments in Wuhan,” Ms. Ernst said.

Earlier this month, the House approved legislation banning pharmaceutical firms that receive taxpayer money from working with five Chinese firms, including WuXi AppTec.

That bill passed by a vote of 306-81, with nearly every Republican and more than half of Democrats in support. Backers said the firms are too closely tied to China’s military establishment.

WuXi AppTec’s website has challenged the legislation, posting news stories that suggest the bill would undermine medical progress in America.

“We adhere strictly to all U.S. laws and regulatory standards,” the firm said.

Correction: This article has been updated to reflect what kinds of experiments are funded with U.S. money.