White Coat Waste, an organization aimed at stopping taxpayer-funded vivisection, has identified 15 active National Institutes of Health (NIH) grants funding transgender animal experiments, totaling over $26 million.

Many of these projects fall under the NIH’s “Sexual and Gender Minorities” category, which accounted for approximately $373 million in spending in 2023. Examples of funded research include:

• University of Alabama at Birmingham: $668,250 to study how “gender-affirming hormone therapy” affects kidney failure treatment in mice.
• University of Michigan at Ann Arbor: $2,587,605 since 2019 to examine testosterone treatments by turning mice transgender.
• Oregon Health & Science University: $9,738,868 to study sexual partner preferences in rams by altering testosterone secretion.
• Duke University: $455,120 to study HIV vaccine responses in sex-changed mice.
• University of Mississippi Medical Center: $65,948 to examine cardiovascular risks in transgender female rats undergoing hormone therapy.
• Harvard University: Research on menstruation using transitioned mice.

Additional funding includes:

• $442,444 at Brigham and Women’s Hospital for wound healing studies.
• $2,121,052 at the University of Michigan for cardiovascular disease research.
• $1,858,506 at Van Andel Research Institute for immune response studies.
• $3,148,325 at Indiana University for asthma-related hormone research.
• $48,974 at Johns Hopkins University to analyze how hormone administration affects wound healing in mice.

The NIH’s funding of transgender animal research became the subject of a heated congressional hearing on Wednesday, where White Coat Waste Vice President Justin Goodman testified.

Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) highlighted that over $10 million was spent on creating transgender mice, rats, and monkeys, and Goodman revealed that the NIH has spent an estimated $245 million on these experiments.

Boston University and Rutgers University received $17.5 million and $58 million, respectively, to promote DEI initiatives alongside translational animal research, aiming to “foster an inclusive environment” for LGBTQIA2S+ individuals.

Critics argue that these experiments, which involve surgical alterations and hormone treatments on animals, waste taxpayer money while providing little tangible benefit.

“Taxpayers shouldn’t be forced to pay billions of dollars every year for outdated, cruel, and potentially dangerous animal experiments,” Goodman told Congress. “Especially when most Americans are opposed to this.”