Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s making animal welfare a component of his Make America Healthy Again mission.
The health secretary has asked his agencies to refine high-tech methods of testing chemicals and drugs that don’t involve killing animals. He thinks phasing out animal testing and using the new methods will help figure out what’s causing chronic disease. It’s also got an ancillary benefit for Republicans: Animal-rights advocates like what they’re hearing.
That’s another opportunity for President Donald Trump to co-opt a traditionally left-leaning constituency.
“No one likes to see suffering,” Emily Trunnell, director of science advancement and outreach at People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, told POLITICO. “The animal welfare benefits are very obvious to most people.”
Last week, the National Institutes of Health announced it would spend $87 million on a new center researching alternatives to animal testing and permit agency-supported researchers to use grant funding to find homes for retired lab animals.
Kennedy signed off because he thinks the new methods will enable scientists to more quickly and inexpensively draw conclusions about how chemicals and drugs work. He expects that’ll confirm his belief that chemicals in the environment and in food are making Americans sick and also speed cures for chronic diseases like cancer, heart disease and diabetes.