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Weapon Wounding by Any Name Still Fails to Help Humans: PETA Statement

For Immediate Release:
March 10, 2026

Contact:
Tasgola Bruner 202-483-7382

Washington, D.C. –

Please see the following statement from PETA Vice President of International Laboratory Methods Shalin Gala regarding a 60 Minutes report that the U.S. military for more than a year has tested on animals a secret, directed-energy weapon, causing traumatic brain injuries in rats and sheep in an attempt to address claims from U.S. officials suffering from Havana Syndrome:

Whether it’s with high-powered guns or directed-energy weapons, shooting and maiming animals to mimic human injuries is unnecessary, unethical, and needs to stop immediately. PETA urges Pentagon top brass to drop the premise that wounding animals in laboratories will ever help humans. It will not. U.S. diplomats and others suffering real and lasting injuries from Havana Syndrome deserve swift and effective treatments, but they will never be helped by piles of dead animals who are forced to suffer the same. PETA urges the Department of War to ban the use of animals for all weapon-wounding experiments.

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to experiment on”—points out that Every Animal Is Someone and offers free Empathy Kits for people who need a lesson in kindness. For more information, please visit PETA.org or follow PETA on X, Facebook, or Instagram.

For Media: Contact PETA’s Media Response Team.
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“Almost all of us grew up eating meat, wearing leather, and going to circuses and zoos. We never considered the impact of these actions on the animals involved. For whatever reason, you are now asking the question: Why should animals have rights?”

— Ingrid Newkirk, PETA Founder and co-author of Animalkind

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