New MAHA initiative around biomedical research is uniting the GOP with some unusual bed fellows

The Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) movement has attracted a wide range of Americans for a variety of reasons but, most recently, one of the nation’s foremost animal rights groups, PETA, has teamed up with the Trump administration and Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to push one of its latest initiatives.  

Last week, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) announced it would spend $87 million on a new Standardized Organoid Modeling (SOM) Center, which will research alternative methods to reduce scientists’ reliance on animals for biomedical research testing. The initiative also includes policies to support the rehousing of animals used in scientific research. 

“We’ve been working with NIH to give them background information on areas of disease research where the animal experiments have failed so tremendously, and there’s the most potential to really shift the game over to human-relevant methods,” Emily Trunnell, director of science advancement and outreach at People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), told Fox News Digital. “About a month ago, we sent them these seven horrific grants … anybody could look at the things they’re doing to like monkeys and dogs and just be like, there’s no way taxpayers need to be funding this. So we continue to push them in that way. We are supportive and providing help where we’re asked, and we do think they’re going in the right direction.”

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The issue of using animals in biomedical research is also one championed by the White Coat Waste Project, which was a vehement critic of Dr. Anthony Fauci and the Biden administration during the coronavirus pandemic and was also founded on a mission to help end taxpayer-funded experiments on animals. The group, founded by Republican political strategist Anthony Bellotti, told Fox News Digital that it is “thrilled that the Trump administration is putting wasteful animal experiments we’ve exposed under the microscope.”

Goodman added that their polling shows 85% of Americans, including Republicans, Democrats and Independents, oppose using taxpayer dollars to support experiments on dogs, cats, and other animals. 

Trunnell agreed, noting that she thinks the issue has gained Republican support because many Americans – no matter their political stripe – have come to wonder why tax dollars are going towards these “cruel” and often less reliable research methods.

“There’s better science when you’re using non-animal methods, there’s less animal cruelty, and there’s less waste all around,” she told Fox News.

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According to Trunnell, Americans have been “sold this lie that animal research is critical for medical advances.” For example, she cited that 95% of new drugs tested on animals ultimately fail in human trials, either because they are not safe, potentially due to toxicity not detected in animals, or they’re ineffective.

Trunnell added that the majority of animals are used in “curiosity-driven research,” which she argued “never results in anything meaningful for human health.”

“On the other hand, we have these new technologies that use human data and human cells,” Trunnell pointed out.

Trump’s head of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Dr. Marty Makary, reportedly met with PETA representatives in July after NIH Director Jay Bhattacharya announced the agency would be taking steps to reduce its reliance on animal-based research models and prioritize human-based ones, according to Politico. Bhattacharya’s actions allegedly earned him a bouquet of flowers from PETA, which said after his announcement that the group was “popping” champagne corks.

In a statement to Fox News Digital, Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) spokesperson Andrew Nixon said the recent steps taken by the NIH and FDA prove the Trump administration’s commitment to reducing animal reliance when it comes to scientific research isn’t just theoretical, it’s happening now.

“Whether through AI-driven models, organoid technology, or other innovative tools, we’re seeing a shift toward safer, more ethical, and more efficient methods of testing,” Nixon said. “This is an issue that bridges ideology because it’s about modernizing science while aligning it with our values.”