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   From:   
   https://www.cnbc.com/2019/04/02/usda-ends-practice-of-deadly-experiments-on-kit   
   tens.html   
      
   Facing mounting pressure, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said Tuesday it   
   will cease the controversial practice of laboratory test research using   
   cats.   
      
   The USDA has been using kittens and cats in taxpayer-funded research to   
   study parasites that can cause death to humans from foodborne illness. NBC   
   News reported March 19 that the USDA?s practice included feeding dog and cat   
   meat obtained in ?Asian meat markets? to cats.   
      
   Last month, bipartisan legislation was introduced in Congress to end the   
   agency?s experiments on kittens.   
      
   In a statement Tuesday, USDA said the Agricultural Research Service?s   
   ?toxoplasmosis research has been redirected and the use of cats as part of   
   any research protocol in any ARS laboratory has been discontinued and will   
   not be reinstated. ? The agency didn?t make mention of any dogs in its   
   release.   
      
   ?I commend the USDA for their decision to end this type of testing on   
   kittens,? said Rep. Jimmy Panetta, D-Calif., who authored the House version   
   of the bipartisan KITTEN Act, or the Kittens in Traumatic Testing Ends Now   
   Act of 2019. ?They listened to the people and responded appropriately to our   
   concerns. This is how our institutions, our government, and our democracy   
   should and must work.?   
      
   When the KITTEN Act was announced last month, backers noted in a release   
   that the USDA?s experiments on cats and kittens involved ?hundreds of   
   kittens bred, fed parasite-infected raw meat, and then killed annually.?   
      
   Republican Rep. Will Hurd of Texas, who co-introduced the legislation, said   
   at the time the ?cruel testing practices? cost taxpayers more than $650,000   
   annually and ?put the lives of innocent kittens in danger.?   
      
   Other cosponsors of the House legislation included GOP Rep. Brian Mast of   
   Florida and Democratic Congresswoman Elissa Slotkin of Michigan. A companion   
   piece of legislation was introduced in the Senate by Sen. Jeff Merkley   
   (D-OR).   
      
   ?With all the awful reports coming out, it was clear that Americans opposed   
   USDA?s cruel testing on kittens,? Rep. Mast said in a statement. ?This is a   
   decisive victory against government animal abuse and wasteful spending.?   
      
   Mast also lauded the USDA Secretary Sonny Perdue for ending the experiments   
   but also called on other federal government agencies to ?put a permanent end   
   to abusive and painful animal testing.?   
      
   ?Food safety in ARS is of paramount importance for agriculture and the   
   public we serve,? Chavonda Jacobs-Young, administrator of USDA?s ARS agency,   
   said in a statement. ?We are continually assessing our research and   
   priorities and aligning our resources to the problems of highest national   
   priority.?   
      
   USDA said its research into toxoplasmosis has yielded results, including   
   helping to cut the prevalence of the Toxoplasma gondii parasite by as much   
   as 50 percent in the U.S. It said the parasite causing toxoplasmosis is   
   especially dangerous to individuals with weak immune systems, such as   
   children and HIV patients.   
      
   ?Over the course of this research, ARS worked to minimize reliance on cats,?   
   USDA said. It added that ?no cats have been infected with taxoplasmosis   
   pathogens or euthanized since September 2018.?   
      
   Finally, USDA said an external independent panel charged with reviewing the   
   safety of adopting the cats now recommends that the animals never infected   
   be made available for adoption. The agency said it is currently in the   
   process of adopting these 14 cats to employees of the USDA and in accordance   
   with regulatory guidelines.   
      
   --Sean   
      
   P.S. Sorry for the weird characters for quotes.  Windows to Linux codepage   
   issue I am too lazy to fix.   
      
      
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