House committee opens hearings on bill to ban medical research on dogs

A state House committee opened hearings Thursday on a possible ban on medical research using dogs in Michigan.

The bill would outlaw medical research and testing that could cause “pain or distress” in dogs. It’s aimed largely at hypertension and cardiovascular research at Wayne State University.

Ryan Merkley, director of research advocacy at the Washington D.C.-based Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine told the House Regulatory Reform Committee that experimenting on dogs is becoming a rarity at research labs across the country.

“You can see the trend and you can also clearly see that human health research can be done without causing dogs to suffer,” he said.

Former research veterinarian Sally Christopher said using live dogs for medical experiments is outdated and cruel.

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