[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 7958 Introduced in House (IH)]

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118th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 7958

To amend the Public Health Service Act to prohibit the Director of the 
National Institutes of Health from conducting or funding research that 
  causes significant pain or distress to a dog or cat, and for other 
                               purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             April 11, 2024

   Ms. Mace (for herself, Mr. Moskowitz, Mr. Nehls, Ms. Kaptur, Ms. 
  Malliotakis, Ms. Titus, Mr. Carter of Georgia, Ms. Norton, and Mr. 
   Steube) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                    Committee on Energy and Commerce

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To amend the Public Health Service Act to prohibit the Director of the 
National Institutes of Health from conducting or funding research that 
  causes significant pain or distress to a dog or cat, and for other 
                               purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Preventing Animal Abuse and Waste 
Act'' or the ``PAAW Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds the following:
            (1) The National Institutes of Health (in this section 
        referred to as ``NIH'') spends taxpayer dollars to conduct and 
        fund research that causes pain and distress to dogs and cats.
            (2) The NIH states that ``animal models often fail to 
        provide good ways to mimic disease or predict how drugs will 
        work in humans, resulting in much wasted time and money while 
        patients wait for therapies''.
            (3) The NIH often conducts and funds tests on dogs to 
        assess the safety of experimental human drugs even though the 
        Food and Drug Administration has stated, ``The FDA does not 
        mandate that human drugs be studied in dogs.''.
            (4) The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and 
        Medicine has repeatedly found research on dogs, cats, and other 
        animals that is conducted and funded by the NIH and other 
        agencies to be unnecessary.
            (5) Alternative research methodologies and other species 
        can replace the use of dogs and cats in NIH-conducted and 
        funded research.
            (6) Federal agencies including the Department of Veterans 
        Affairs, the Environmental Protection Agency, and the Food and 
        Drug Administration have launched initiatives to reduce and 
        replace testing on dogs and cats, specifically.
            (7) Existing reporting mechanisms do not provide adequate 
        information to Congress and taxpayers about the scale, scope, 
        and cost of dog and cat use in NIH-conducted and funded 
        research.

SEC. 3. PROHIBITION ON RESEARCH CAUSING SIGNIFICANT PAIN OR DISTRESS TO 
              DOGS AND CATS.

    (a) In General.--Subpart 6 of part C of title IV of the Public 
Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 285f et seq.) is amended by adding at the 
end the following:

``SEC. 447E. PROHIBITION ON RESEARCH CAUSING SIGNIFICANT PAIN OR 
              DISTRESS TO DOGS AND CATS.

    ``(a) In General.--The Director of NIH may not conduct or support 
any research that causes significant pain or distress to a dog or cat.
    ``(b) Definition.--In this section, the term `research that causes 
significant pain or distress' includes any study classified in pain 
category D or E by the Department of Agriculture.''.
    (b) Applicability.--The amendment made by subsection (a) applies 
beginning on the date that is 90 days after the date of enactment of 
this Act.

SEC. 4. REPORTING.

    (a) NIH Report on Research Causing Pain or Distress to Dogs and 
Cats.--
            (1) In general.--Not later than 6 months after the date of 
        enactment of this Act, and annually thereafter, the Director of 
        the NIH shall publish on the NIH website, and submit to the 
        Committee on Energy and Commerce of the House of 
        Representatives and to the Committee on Health, Education, 
        Labor, and Pensions of the Senate, a report on the use of dogs 
        and cats in NIH-conducted and funded biomedical research.
            (2) Contents of report.--Each report under paragraph (1) 
        shall include, for the period covered by the report--
                    (A) a list of all ongoing or prospective research 
                projects that cause significant pain or distress to a 
                dog or cat and are conducted or funded by the NIH;
                    (B) for each project--
                            (i) the project title;
                            (ii) the grant or contract number;
                            (iii) the research abstract;
                            (iv) the research location;
                            (v) the cost to taxpayers during the 
                        previous fiscal year and since inception;
                            (vi) the number of dogs or cats used;
                            (vii) the projected start and end dates;
                            (viii) the Department of Agriculture pain 
                        and distress category; and
                            (ix) the amount of funds obligated or 
                        estimated to be obligated for each such 
                        project;
                    (C) an explanation of--
                            (i) efforts to phase out the use of dogs 
                        and cats in research that is conducted or 
                        funded by the NIH; and
                            (ii) any barriers to such phase out; and
                    (D) the number of dogs and cats retired and adopted 
                from research conducted or funded by the NIH.
    (b) GAO Study on NIH Dog and Cat Research and Efforts To Reduce Use 
of Dogs and Cats in Testing.--Not later than one year after the date of 
enactment of this Act, the Comptroller General of the United States 
shall submit a report to the Congress that--
            (1) reviews and summarizes the use of dogs and cats in 
        research that is conducted or funded by the NIH;
            (2) identifies NIH policies and initiatives aimed at 
        reducing and replacing the specific use of dogs and cats in 
        research that causes significant pain or distress and is 
        conducted or funded by the NIH;
            (3) assesses the effectiveness of any NIH policies and 
        initiatives aimed at reducing and replacing the use of dogs and 
        cats in NIH-conducted and funded research;
            (4) compares NIH efforts to reduce and replace dog and cat 
        testing to similar efforts at other Federal agencies;
            (5) identifies areas where the NIH can improve--
                    (A) efforts to reduce and replace the use of dogs 
                and cats in research that is conducted or funded by the 
                NIH; and
                    (B) public reporting on progress made;
            (6) assesses the effectiveness of any NIH policies and 
        initiatives aimed at retiring and re-homing dogs and cats no 
        longer needed in research conducted or funded by the NIH;
            (7) makes recommendations for improving--
                    (A) the effectiveness of efforts to reduce and 
                replace the use of dogs and cats in research conducted 
                or funded by the NIH; and
                    (B) public reporting on progress made; and
            (8) includes any other matter the Comptroller General of 
        the United States determines important to assessing and 
        improving NIH's efforts to reduce and replace the use of dogs 
        and cats in federally funded research that causes significant 
        pain or distress.
    (c) Definition.--In this section:
            (1) The term ``NIH'' means the National Institutes of 
        Health.
            (2) The term ``research that causes significant pain or 
        distress'' includes any study classified in pain category D or 
        E by the Department of Agriculture.
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