The CARGO Act of 2025 prohibits the National Institutes of Health (NIH) from funding any research involving live animals conducted outside of the United States due to concerns over mistreatment and lack of oversight.
Rick Scott
Senator
FL
The CARGO Act of 2025 prohibits the National Institutes of Health (NIH) from awarding funding or support for any research activity that uses live animals if that research is conducted outside of the United States. This measure is intended to address concerns regarding the lack of oversight and potential mistreatment of animals in foreign research labs funded by U.S. taxpayers. The bill effectively bans NIH grants for overseas animal testing, requiring all such research to occur within U.S. borders.
NIH Funding Ban: New Act Stops Taxpayer Dollars for Animal Research Outside the U.S.
The new Cease Animal Research Grants Overseas Act of 2025—or the CARGO Act—is designed to stop the National Institutes of Health (NIH) from funding any research involving live animals if that research happens outside the borders of the United States. This isn't a minor tweak; it’s a total, sweeping ban. The bill states that the NIH Director “absolutely cannot award any kind of support”—grants, contracts, or even technical help—for animal research conducted anywhere but the U.S. and its territories (Sec. 3).
Why the Sudden Stop Sign?
Congress is pretty clear about why they’re doing this. Between 2011 and 2021, the NIH dropped about $2.2 billion on animal research projects overseas (Sec. 2). The core issue, according to the bill's findings, is oversight. When the NIH funds a lab in, say, France or Japan, they don't send inspectors to check on the animals. Instead, they rely on the foreign organizations to self-report how they’re treating the animals. Congress argues this lack of direct oversight creates a high risk that animals are being mistreated, and they don't want U.S. taxpayer money involved in that (Sec. 2).
The Research Roadblock
For the average person, this bill might sound like a win for animal welfare, and it certainly aims to be. However, the real-world impact hits the scientific community hard, and that ripple effect matters for public health. Think of a U.S. university team working on a new vaccine that requires studying a specific disease prevalent only in a certain region of Africa. Currently, the NIH could fund that critical, on-the-ground animal research abroad. Under the CARGO Act, that funding vanishes. U.S. researchers who rely on international collaboration—which is often essential for studying global pandemics or unique regional health issues—will suddenly find a massive, federally mandated wall between them and their foreign partners.
Who Pays the Price for the Policy?
While the goal is to ensure U.S. tax dollars aren't funding potential animal mistreatment, the cost could be slower scientific progress. The bill's language is extremely strict, prohibiting any support, which could even cut off minor technical coordination between U.S. and foreign labs if the project involves live animals. If the NIH can no longer fund research where a disease is actually endemic, it forces all that work to happen domestically, which can be less effective, more expensive, and potentially delay breakthroughs in global health. In short, while animal welfare advocates might cheer the immediate halt to funding foreign labs that lack direct oversight, the scientific community is now facing a significant restriction on where—and how fast—they can conduct critical studies that benefit everyone.