On August 19, Science magazine published a damning story about the challenges facing the USDA regarding oversight of animal experimentation, and quoted AAVS Senior Policy Advisor Eric Kleiman. The issues range from a doubling of facilities covered under the AWA since 2018, to a precipitous drop in the number of inspectors (down to 77). As Science reported, these facts are combined with the addition of an entirely new biological class of animals—birds—now under the purview of the USDA because of the lawsuit filed by AAVS and the Avian Welfare Coalition. This successful lawsuit has resulted in AWA coverage of over 63,000 birds not bred for experimentation whom labs used in experimentation, or held for such use, in 2024. As one USDA source told Science, coverage of birds—which number “more than dogs and cats combined”—“was a seismic shift.” An upcoming article in our print magazine will delve into this issue further.

Science also reported on a damning analysis conducted by Rise for Animals of over 14,000 USDA inspection reports since 2014, and USDA fines levied since late 2019. Rise for Animals focused on a comparison of direct and critical citations—the two most serious types of citations, which both adversely affect animal welfare—between research facilities that were accredited by the Association for Assessment and Accreditation of Laboratory Animal Care, and those that weren’t. AAALAC is overwhelmingly funded by the animal experimentation industry.

As Science reported, the Rise for Animals analysis showed “although AAALAC-accredited research facilities account for just 42% of all inspected facilities, they received 73% of the two most serious types of USDA citations in that time period, as well as 78% of all fines issued by APHIS from late 2019 to mid-2024.”

Science also discussed animal advocates’ concerns that AAALAC had also given a “clean bill of health” to Envigo, which operated a dog breeding facility in Virginia where 4,000 beagles were removed due to gross violations of the AWA. In June 2024, the company pleaded guilty to the crime of conspiring to violate the AWA, following an investigation by the Department of Justice and the Commonwealth of Virginia. Science linked to Envigo’s timeline—published when it pleaded guilty to that crime last year—that showed that AAALAC had inspected Envigo in February 2022, found no issues requiring correction, and recommended full accreditation. Three months later, DOJ and Virginia seized 446 dogs in “acute distress,” which led to the shuttering of the facility, Envigo’s adopting out 4,000 beagles, and the company’s guilty plea for conspiring to violate the AWA.

The analysis by Rise for Animals is more relevant than ever because, as Science reported, there are concerns from animal advocates as well as a former head of USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, Kevin Shea, that the USDA will delegate even more regulatory responsibility to AAALAC, given how few inspectors the agency now has. In 2019, the USDA implemented in secret an inspection policy that neutered inspections at accredited labs. Rise for Animals and the Animal Legal Defense Fund later sued the USDA over this policy.

While AAALAC did not respond to repeated requests by Science for comment, a representative at the pro-animal research group Americans for Medical Progress admitted that AAALAC accreditation is “not a magic guarantee that nothing will ever go wrong.”