State Rep. Joe Aragona and a bipartisan group of lawmakers today sent a letter asking the National Institute of Health to stop funding medical experiments on beagles at Wayne State University, which Aragona called cruel and unnecessary.

The letter was sent to U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. and National Institute of Health Director Jay Bhattacharya, MD, PhD.

Aragona, R-Clinton Township, said that the dogs undergo painful surgeries to install medical devices and are then forced to run on treadmills until they suffer heart attacks. Every dog in this program eventually dies.

The NIH has funded the WSU program, which aims to study human heart failure and hypertension by trying to artificially create those conditions in dogs, since 1991. More than 300 dogs have died as a result of this research.

“I agree that animal testing is needed in some circumstances, but I’ve repeatedly asked WSU for over a year for proof that this research program provides benefit to humans, and they haven’t given me any,” Aragona said. “Taxpayers don’t want their money being used to kill Snoopy.”

Aragona is the sponsor of House Bill 4254, which would prohibit medical experimentation on dogs by public bodies, including universities, if the experiments cause pain and distress. The bill is named “Queenie’s Law” after a stray dog killed by WSU.

The bill was voted out of the House Regulatory Reform Committee in October and then sent to the rules committee. Similar legislation passed the House last term but died in the Senate during lame duck.

Aragona serves as chair of the House Regulatory Reform Committee; he is also president of the Macomb County Humane Society.

The FDA announced in April 2025 that it planned to phase out using dogs for certain kinds of drug testing. The NIH announced in May that it shut down its last in-house beagle lab. And the U.S. Navy announced in June that it will no longer use dogs or cats in research.

The NIH grant to Wayne State is scheduled to expire in March 2026; Aragona requested that the NIH deny funding to the project beyond that time and to also deny funding for any projects involving dogs by the same researcher.

In addition to Aragona, the letter was signed by state Reps. Angela Rigas (R-Caledonia), Jason Woolford (R-Howell), Emily Dievendorf (D-Lansing), Veronica Paiz (D-Harper Woods), Alicia St. Germaine (R-Harrison Township), Jimmie Wilson, Jr. (D-Ypsilanti), Mike Hoadley (R-Au Gres), Jim DeSana (R-Carlton), Ken Borton (R-Gaylord) and John Roth (R-Interlochen).