Biden Sends Off 2022 by Signing Five Animal Protection Measures into Law

To end 2022, President Joe Biden enacted landmark legislation to end animal testing mandates and horse doping in the United States!

Source: Forbes Breaking News/YouTube

Biden signed the last of five animal protection measures into law in the year-end spending bill to fund the Federal Government for FY2023.

Biden signed The FDA Modernization Act 2.0, The Reducing Animal Testing Act, and a fix to the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act of 2020. He also enacted record-breaking funding for the enforcement of the Horse Protection Act of 1970. Recently, the President also signed the Big Cat Public Safety Act and Shark Fin Sales Elimination Act.

“Reducing the numbers of animals used in testing, shutting down commercial cub petting operations, halting the use of performance-enhancing drugs in horse racing, and working to combat the massacre of sharks for their fins are good policies for the United States,” said Wayne Pacelle, president at the Center for a Humane Economy. “These laws, individually and collectively, help make our nation more humane when it comes to our treatment of animals.”

The FDA Modernization Act and Reducing Animal Testing Act will eliminate a federal mandate for animal testing for new drugs and biosimilars. The bill will end a Depression-era requirement for animal testing for every new drug being considered for the market.

The amendments to the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act Statutory Repair will amend a provision in the original law that makes it illegal to do race-day doping of Thoroughbreds in jeopardy.

The Big Cat Public Safety Act bans private possession and public contact and increases restrictions on the breeding, trading, and exploitation of big cats in the United States.

The Shark Fin Sales Elimination Act will finally ban the buying and selling of shark fins. Up to 73 million sharks have their fins cut off annually. To add insult to injury (or, in this case, death), the sharks are occasionally thrown back into the water and, since they can’t swim effectively anymore, sink to the bottom of the ocean to suffocate or bleed to death. This practice was made illegal in the United States in 2000, but individual states can still decide to import sharks who have endured this.

The record-breaking funding for the enforcement of the Horse Protection Act includes $4.1 million to enforce the Horse Protection Act (HPA) of 1970, which is $1 million more than last year’s record funding of $3 million.

We are so happy to end 2022 on a great note for animals!

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