Recently, President Trump, citing information from the White Coat Waste Project, correctly highlighted NIH-funded transgender research on mice. Unfortunately, some have misused this information to incite hostility toward the transgender community. This is both unfair and unacceptable, as the transgender community neither requested nor endorsed this research. Criticism should be directed at those who fund and conduct these cruel and unnecessary experiments, not at any other group of people. Animal experimentation is cruel, outdated and wasteful, and it must end. Just as technology has advanced beyond 1950s-era automobiles, medical research must evolve beyond reliance on animals. Modern alternatives — such as human cell cultures, organ-on-a-chip technology and computer modeling — offer more accurate predictions of human responses than animal models. For example, while some cancer treatments have shown success in mice for decades, they have failed in human trials due to fundamental biological differences between species. Funding should prioritize human-relevant research methods that drive more effective and ethical scientific progress. As President Trump stated, the NIH allocates millions of taxpayer dollars to studies involving animals. Researchers continue to profit from animal experimentation, which, despite being outdated, remains a standard research method. Securing grant money for animal-based studies is often easier than for more modern alternatives. To learn more, visit the White Coat Waste Project online. If you feel frustrated or angry, direct it toward the institutions and individuals profiting from these experiments, not innocent people.

Linda Dionne

Raymond