Cuts to the Environmental Protection Agency are forcing it to curb much of its research work, leaving it with an abundance of lab animals — so it's holding an adoption drive.
EPA staff at a research office in North Carolina have launched an adoption campaign for their lab rats and zebrafish in response to cuts to its research projects introduced by the Donald Trump administration, according to the Wall Street Journal.
A research and development official at the EPA said that scientists were having a difficult time obtaining supplies for even basic testing, which led to an oversupply of lab animals.
The EPA has about 20,000 animals in its labs, including rabbits, mice, and rats. The animals are generally used to gauge the safety of environmental pollutants.
For those interested in having their own rat or zebrafish, the animals are available at the EPA's Research Triangle complex in North Carolina, according to a report by the Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility.
The EPA is in the process of shuttering its Office of Research and Development, and will instead replace it with a much smaller office called the Office of Applied Science and Environmental Solutions. It will use the acronym OASES.
The new office will focus on shorter-term projects that are "statutorily required functions" rather than long-term research, like the effects of potentially harmful chemicals, according to a fact sheet that was emailed to the office's employees.
The plan will result in the elimination of more than 1,000 science positions, which accounts for three quarters of the total office's staff. The reductions are currently on hold pending a preliminary federal court injunction challenging the cuts.
PEER Science Policy Director Kyla Bennett, a scientist and attorney formally with EPA, said the cuts amounted to the EPA "abandoning its status as a premier scientific organization."
“Scientific research is vital to EPA’s core mission of protecting public health and the environment, but that mission is quickly eroding," she said in a PEER press statement.
PEER warned that the cuts would make the EPA more dependent on research from chemical companies, which may be incentivized to hide the harmful effects of certain chemicals, and will force the agency to abandon ongoing research that relies on lab animals.
Lee Zeldin, Trump's administrator of the EPA, told the Wall Street Journal that changes at the agency reflect the priorities that Trump campaigned on and that voters supported. He described the changes as eliminating waste and "fraud" that the Biden administration allegedly tolerated.
A group of approximately 400 EPA employees signed a public letter sent to Zeldin on Monday claiming that the Trump administration is ignoring science for the benefit of corporate polluters. Amelia Hertzberg, an environmental protection specialist at the EPA who signed the letter told the Wall Street Journal that Zeldin under Trump is "fundamentally changing the mission of the EPA when he focuses on industry needs above human health and the environment."
An EPA spokeswoman told the paper that the agency was "bound by laws established by Congress — not what some would like the laws to say."
Bennett said the EPA is "undergoing an ill-advised scientific self-lobotomy."
“Instead of developing a strategic plan for meeting its scientific needs, Trump’s EPA has decided to largely abandon scientific research except when it is specifically mandated by law, thus embracing some short-term savings to its long-term detriment.”
