Animals in Research

Sen. Wojno introduced “Queenie’s Law,” Senate Bill 1019, to prohibit painful animal experiments.. The bill, a companion to legislation introduced in 2023 by Rep. Matt Koleszar (HB 4849) is a response to long- running, controversial dog studies conducted at Wayne State University.

MichBio provided written testimony in opposition to the proposed legislation. After a substitution during the Committee hearing, the proposed legislation would now only forbid public institutions from research that could injure, distress or kill dogs, no longer including cats or experiments done by private facilities in the state.

While the scope of the proposed ban shrunk, advocates say the bill will still do what it originally intended to: end painful and deadly experiments on dogs at public universities in the state.

MichBio, the Animal Health Institute, several private bioscience companies in Michigan, and public research institutions, argued that the bill would have unintended consequences relating to future research that could benefit humans and animals and that it would portray the state of Michigan as cultivating an anti-life science agenda and result in detrimental impacts to biomedical innovation and economy.

The bill from Rep. Koleszar also advanced out of the House Agriculture Committee by a 8-5 party- line vote, but was not considered by the full House during the lame duck.

In the end, both SB 1019 and HB 4849 died this legislative session due to inaction on the part of the House.