After thousands of cats died in experiments, USDA says it will stop controversial research program

The Department of Agriculture said Tuesday it will stop injecting cats with a deadly pathogen and euthanizing them in a controversial program around since the 1980s. 

The USDA said its Agricultural Research Service's toxoplasmosis research has been "redirected" and cats will no longer be a part of any of the labs' protocol. Toxoplasmosis is a disease linked to foodborne illness and death in the U.S. The agency says its research has reduced the prevalence of the Toxoplasma gondii (T. gondii) parasite as much as 50% in the nation. 

“We are continually assessing our research and priorities and aligning our resources to the problems of highest national priority," Chavonda Jacobs-Young, Agricultural Research Service administrator, said in a statement. "We are excited for the next chapter of work for these scientists and this laboratory.”

The USDA says no cats have been infected with pathogens or euthanized since September 2018. The USDA said the remaining cats who were not infected will be adopted by employees.

The decision comes after legislation introduced in Congress called on the agency to stop the taxpayer-funded experiments that killed hundreds of cats annually since 1982. 

"While I strongly support scientific research, taxpayer money and federal resources should be spent on advancing scientific research in an ethical manner, not on inflicting pain on kittens or killing them after they are used in agency testing," congressman Jimmy Panetta, D-Calif., said in March. 

Republican Rep. Will Hurd of Texas, who supported the legislation, said the testing practices cost more than $650,000 taxpayer dollars each year. 

A watchdog report by non-profit White Coat Waste Project claimed dogs were also a part of the experiments. The USDA announcement didn't mention dogs in its latest release.

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