PETA Praises HHS’s $88 Million Investment in Non-Animal Science, But Agency Must Do More: Statement

For Immediate Release:
September 21, 2026

Contact:
Tasgola Bruner 202-483-7382

Please see the following statement from PETA Director of Science Advancement and Outreach, Dr. Emily Trunnell, regarding today’s U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announcement of new initiatives to reduce animal use:

PETA thanks HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and the National Institutes of Health for taking concrete steps to move away from experiments on animals and toward superior, human-based science. The investments in human-based research infrastructure, plans for greater transparency about animal use, and efforts to modernize how research is conducted and evaluated are welcome signs of progress—ones PETA has long called for. PETA urges HHS to build on today’s announcement by accelerating the closure of the National Primate Research Centers, honoring its commitment to end federal funding for experiments on dogs, and ending funding for experiments on animals in the U.S. and overseas. Further, NIH can simply mandate that institutions publicly report on the number of animals used in NIH-funded experiments, without a lengthy review of the process, and putting the Office of Laboratory Animal Welfare in charge of tracking animal use will only delay what should be done, given the office’s history of overlooking serious animal welfare violations.

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.