The Kittens In Traumatic Testing Ends Now Act, stylized as the "KITTEN Act", refers to several proposed pieces of American legislation intended to amend the Animal Welfare Act and prevent harmful or painful procedures during

animal research Animal testing, also known as animal experimentation, animal research, and ''in vivo'' testing, is the use of non-human animals in experiments that seek to control the variables that affect the behavior or biological system under study. This ...

. The proposal is specifically intended to curtail funding for certain research programs in the

United States Department of Agriculture The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is the United States federal executive departments, federal executive department responsible for developing and executing federal laws related to farming, forestry, rural economic development, ...

Agricultural Research Service The Agricultural Research Service (ARS) is the principal in-house research agency of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). ARS is one of four agencies in USDA's Research, Education and Economics mission area. ARS is charged with ext ...

office. The Washington Post reported allegations that such research into feline

toxoplasmosis Toxoplasmosis is a parasitic disease caused by ''Toxoplasma gondii'', an apicomplexan. Infections with toxoplasmosis are associated with a variety of neuropsychiatric and behavioral conditions. Occasionally, people may have a few weeks or months ...

may have involved cannibalism.''USDA is turning lab cats into cannibals by forcing them to eat feline meat, watchdog says''
/ref>

Legislative history

The first proposal, stylized as the KITTEN Act of 2018, was proposed as H.R. 5780, in 2018. Congressman

Jimmy Panetta James Varni Panetta (; born October 1, 1969) is an American lawyer and politician from the state of California. A member of the Democratic Party, he is the U.S. representative for California's 20th congressional district. The district includes mu ...

introduced the bill. This bill was referred to the House Committee on Agriculture's Subcommittee on Livestock and Foreign Agriculture. The landmark 2018 Agriculture bill did not include this legislation, although it did incorporate some text from the unrelated Dog and Cat Meat Trade Prohibition Act of 2018, which was passed by the house before dying in committee in the Senate. This among the last acts of Congress in 2018 prior to a stalemate that resulted in the 2018–19 United States federal government shutdown. The second proposal, stylized as the KITTEN Act of 2019, was put forward as a bipartisan proposal, led by Congressman Panetta, and co-sponsored by Congressman

Brian Mast Brian Jeffery Mast (born July 10, 1980) is an American politician and U.S. military veteran who has served as the U.S. representative for Florida's 21st congressional district since 2017. The district, numbered as the 18th district from 2017 t ...

(R-FL), Congresswoman

Elissa Slotkin Elissa Blair Slotkin (born July 10, 1976) is an American politician serving as the U.S. representative from since 2023. She represented the from 2019 to 2023, before redistricting. A member of the Democratic Party, she previously served as a ...

(D-MI), and Congressman

Will Hurd William Ballard Hurd (born August 19, 1977) is an American politician and former CIA clandestine officer who served as the U.S. representative for Texas's 23rd congressional district from 2015 to 2021. The district stretched approximately from ...

(R-TX). The bill was introduced as H.R. 1622 and concurrently read as S.708 in the Senate.

Effect

On Tuesday, April 2, 2019 the USDA announced it was ceasing all research experiments involving cats.

Legislative history

Effect

References

See also