New Haven, CT – Today, Animal Wellness Action, a Washington, D.C. non-profit focused on promoting legal standards to halt cruelty and to enforce those laws, formally endorsed U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., the chair of the House Appropriations Committee, for re-election to the U.S House of Representatives.
“Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro is one of the leading voices on animal welfare policy in the nation,” said Wayne Pacelle, president at Animal Wellness Action. “Among her many actions for animals, she introduced legislation to stop mass killing of mink for fur on highly pathogenic fur farms and she’s called for end to the mandate for animal testing for all new drugs. She richly deserves our endorsements and the support of animal advocates in south-central Connecticut.”
DeLauro has been a leader on numerous animal protection measures in the U.S. House:
- DeLauro is leading the MINKS Are Superspreaders Act to end mink farming in the U.S. as mink have proven to be the number one superspreader of COVID besides humans and have already spawned at least one new variant in the U.S. She also championed a House amendment in February that cleared the chamber and would accomplish what the MINKS Act seeks.
- DeLauro is leading a letter to USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack calling for plant-based alternatives to be provided to students in school lunch programs who are lactose intolerant or allergic to dairy.
- DeLauro has helped secure countless animal protection provisions in the annual federal spending bills to maintain the ban on horse slaughter in the U.S., crackdown on the abusive practice of soring Tennessee Walking Horses; increase enforcement of anti-cockfighting and anti-cruelty laws on the books.
Rep. DeLauro has cosponsored and backed a broad range of other important reforms:
- DeLauro is working as a cosponsor of the FDA Modernization Act to stop needless, costly, and inhumane animal testing. The measure recently passed the U.S. Senate and would end animal testing mandates at the FDA by amending the 1938 statute – a Depression-era requirement for animal testing for all new drug development protocols, allow for alternative methods when validated, and help reduce drug costs and time to market for voters.
- DeLauro cosponsored and voted for the Big Cat Public Safety Act, that would bar private citizens from keeping dangerous carnivores like lions and tigers in our communities;
- DeLauro joined a letter to the U.S. Postal Service Inspector calling on the Inspector to crackdown against illegal animal fighting shipments to Guam and other countries throughout the world. Dogfighting and cockfighting, are often bound up with illegal gambling, narcotics trafficking, and human-on-humane violence.
- DeLauro cosponsored the Shark Fin Sales Elimination Act that would ban the trade in shark fins in the U.S;
- DeLauro cosponsored the Greyhound Protection Act, that would effectively end greyhound racing in the U.S;
- DeLauro cosponsored the Prevent All Soring Tactics (PAST) Act that would amend the 1970 Horse Protection Act to end the painful practice of soring and cosponsored the SAFE Act to help permanently end horse slaughter and the transport of horses for that purpose.
- DeLauro cosponsored the Bear Protection Act that would help end the poaching of bear parts that produce bile used in Traditional Chinese Medicine. China has promoted the use of bear bile as a treatment for COVID-19 with no scientific basis, and poachers often kill the animal for one part and wastefully disregard the rest of the carcass.