For the last 30 years or more, the U. S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has been experimenting with kittens to learn more about a parasite that can cause toxoplasmosis, a disease that is known to cause miscarriages and birth defects in humans, through the cats’ feces. After a few weeks of being fed meat infected with the parasite, the kittens were killed.
This experiment was recently discovered and exposed by the White Coat Waste Project. Lawmakers are now pressuring the USDA to stop their experimentation by starting the Kittens in Traumatic Testing Ends Now Act (KITTEN Act) and threatening to slowly “‘choke off their funding if this testing continues.’”
However, the USDA claims to use as few cats as possible and that the estimated number of 3000 cats killed is overexaggerated. They also defend their actions by saying they didn’t adopt out the cats “‘because of the risk the cats could pose to their adoptive families.’” However, research has shown that cats can be treated for the disease and are unlikely to infect humans they are handled by.
Personally, I side with the lawmakers trying to end the experiment. The USDA should have at least tried to cure the cats before killing them. It is not acceptable to me that this experiment went on for at least 30 years before it was noticed. Clearly, the government needs to monitor its departments better than it currently is. Something this awful shouldn’t be able to slip under our noses for so long. Hopefully, the experiment will be shut down and the government will start paying attention to what its departments are doing. How many other experiments like this are happening right now?
This is sickening! I can't believe people area actually doing this! Especially with me loving animals so much, I really hope they shut this company down... Very well written, this caught my attention right away. Good job!
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