(Beth Clifton collage)
Jim Greenbaum faces off with Anthony Bellotti over Nicole Kleinstreuer, named to head NIH office seeking alternatives to animal testing
WEST HOLLYWOOD, California––“Being a bystander to suffering is not an option,” states the Greenbaum Foundation motto.
The Greenbaum Foundation is endowed and headed by former telecom executive Jim Greenbaum, 67.
Because “Being a bystander to suffering is not an option,” Greenbaum “provided the first major financial support back in 2013” to the White Coat Waste Project, recalled then-White Coat Waste Project campaign assistant Natalie Warhit, now senior campaign specialist with Mercy for Animals, back on October 5, 2020.
Greenbaum, commanding the Greenbaum Foundation assets of $52.5 million and all the clout that kind of money can buy, “became the inaugural recipient of our three-million-member taxpayer watchdog group, White Coat Waste Project’s “Policy Pioneer” Award,” Warhit announced.
“No one more deserving”
Added White Coat Waste Project founder and president Anthony Bellotti, “There’s no one more deserving than Jim Greenbaum, our ‘Funding Father.’
“Jim shared my vision and determination to stop only treating the symptoms of taxpayer-funded animal testing—animal cruelty—and start curing the disease, which is wasteful government spending,” Bellotti said.
“None of White Coat Waste’s accomplishments would have happened without his big bet on this important and neglected public policy work.”
Fast-forward five years to July 4, 2025, two years after Greenbaum quit funding the White Coat Waste Project, Bellotti told ANIMALS 24-7.
(White Coat Waste photo)
“White Coat Waste has betrayed the animals”
“White Coat Waste Has Betrayed the Animals It Once Swore to Protect” headlined Greenbaum, firing a Facebook “shot heard around the world.”
“For years, I proudly supported White Coat Waste,” began Greenbaum, “believing their efforts could complement the broader animal protection movement to save animals from research and testing. In fact, I was their largest funder for many years, helping them build a base strong enough to stand on their own.
“White Coat Waste may have started with good intentions,” Greenbaum said, “but I believe it has lost its way—and its moral compass.
“Relentless smear campaign”
“The organization has launched a relentless smear campaign against Dr. Nicole Kleinstreuer,” Greenbaum explained, “a tireless advocate for replacing animal research and testing. She has played a pivotal role in historic victories for animals at the National Institutes of Health, the world’s largest funder of research, and the Food & Drug Administration.
“For the first time,” averred Greenbaum, “the animal protection community has a true ally in a position of power at the National Institutes of Health. Dr. Kleinstreuer is not only saving animals now; she is helping to build a system where they won’t be used in the first place.
Attacking ORIVA
“And yet,” Greenbaum observed, “White Coat Waste is attacking her. The organization is actively rallying its supporters against a new National Institutes of Health office,” the Office of Research Innovation, Validation, and Application (ORIVA), formed in April 2025 with a mandate to “develop, validate, and scale” human-based methods as alternatives to animal studies.
ORIVA, Greenbaum said, has been “created to replace animal research across the agency—a vision that aligns perfectly with the goals of the animal protection community.”
The “reckless campaign” by the White Coast Waste Project against Kleinstreuer and ORIVA, Greenbaum alleged, “endangers not only Dr. Kleinstreuer’s work, but also the progress we’ve made for animals everywhere.”
(See Is NIH under Trump really replacing animal testing, or just axing research? and What if the Trump administration is serious about ending lab animal use?)
(See also Nicole Kleinstreuer interviewed by NIH director Jay Bhattacharya at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iSvk6iMx7Yg.)
“Let’s not let her stand alone”
“Today,” finished Greenbaum, “I have one final gift for White Coat Waste: I am returning the ‘Policy Pioneer Award’ they presented to me in 2020.
“I no longer support this organization and urge it to rediscover the ethical foundation upon which it was built.
“More importantly,” Greenbaum added, “I call on the animal protection movement to stand in solidarity with Dr. Kleinstreuer. She is a hero—working from within the system to create real, lasting change for animals.
“Let’s not let her stand alone.”
So what did she do, besides be appointed?
So what did Nicole Kleinstreuer do, if anything, besides be appointed to head ORIVA by National Institutes of Health director Jay Bhattacharya, himself then newly appointed by U.S. president Donald Trump, to become a White Coat Waste Campaign target?
For Anthony Bellotti, that by itself may have been enough.
Charged Bellotti to ANIMALS 24-7 on June 9, 2025, “ORIVA has no spending cuts. No deadlines. No animal testing phaseout,” all of which would have been much to ask of an agency in existence for less than two months, with no budget authority over the rest of the National Institutes of Health.
The National Institutes of Health, Bellotti said, “now has a blank check to keep funding its favorite animal abusers—with no timeline to stop. It’s the status quo with new PR.”
Did Kleinstreuer really say that?
The National Institutes of Health “says it’s prioritizing alternatives,” Bellotti continued. “But it also declared animal testing is ‘vital.’ And just last week,” Bellotti said, ORIVA’s new ‘animal testing czar’ flat-out admitted NIH has ‘no intention’ of ending animal experiments.”
Bellotti furnished the first half of a quote delivered by Nicole Kleinstreuer during a June 4, 2025 interview with Will Walkey and Meghna Chakrabarti of On Point, a news program broadcast by WBUR-FM, a public radio station owned by Boston University in Boston, Massachusetts.
Introduced Chakrabarti, “So let’s listen to Nicole Kleinstreuer. She’s the acting director for program coordination at NIH. And she spoke with On Point and told us NIH is going to focus on increasing funding — I can’t believe I just said that in these times — but NIH will focus, that’s what they say.”
The whole statement
In the portion Bellotti quoted, Kleinstreuer said, “You know, we have no intention of just phasing out animal studies overnight. We know that animal studies are still very important and often scientifically justified. There are lots of areas where validated human-relevant models are not yet available.”
Continued Kleinstreuer in the part Bellotti omitted, “But we are seeing rapid progress and the more we invest in this space, the better those human biology-based integrated systems will become and the less we will have to rely on animal models moving forward.”
The portion of Kleinstreuer’s statement that Bellotti quoted actually paraphrased statements issued by her boss, Bhattacharya, in an April 29, 2025 National Institutes of Health media release:
“While traditional animal models continue to be vital to advancing scientific knowledge, using new and emerging technologies can offer unique strengths that, when utilized correctly or in combination, can expand the toolbox for researchers to answer previously difficult or unanswerable biomedical research questions.”
(See Is NIH under Trump really replacing animal testing, or just axing research?)
(LinkedIn photo)
“Look at the history of her actions & observe going forward”
Assessed Greenbaum, “Were Dr. Nicole Kleinstreuer to come out and say that she wants to end all animal testing, it’s doubtful that she would be able to hold the job for more than a few more hours before the uproar from industry would result in her termination. I simply suggest looking at the history of her actions and observing her actions going forward.”
Responded Kleinstreuer on Facebook, after thanking Greenbaum, “My statement that NIH cannot phase out animal testing overnight is simply an unfortunate truth based on a complex landscape of legal, scientific, and regulatory requirements.
“My team is changing this in long-lasting ways,” Kleinstreuer said. “Sure, there are some incremental changes, and there are others that are bigger. We are saving animals now, and doing the complex and nuanced work to create lasting change for animal-free science, which they [White Coat Waste Project] threaten with their incendiary behavior.”
(Beth Clifton collage)
What did Obama have to do with it?
Cassandra MacDonald of The Gateway Pundit, described by Wikipedia as “an American far-right fake news website, known for publishing falsehoods, hoaxes, and conspiracy theories,” on June 16, 2025 may have fingered the real White Coat Waste Project objection to Nicole Kleinstreuer, bearing in mind that White Coat Waste Project, under former Republican strategist Bellotti, leans very far to the right.
(See Fauci vs. the White Coat Waste Project: did Hans Ruesch sire the conflict?)
Reported MacDonald, “A Barack Obama-era NIH staffer, Dr. Nicole Kleinstreuer, has been appointed by NIH Director Jay Bhattacharya to be the NIH’s acting deputy director for program coordination, planning, and strategic initiatives,” a job title apparently including directing ORIVA.
“Earlier this month,” MacDonald continued, “Kleinstreuer told NPR that the NIH has ‘no intention of just phasing out animal studies overnight.’”
MacDonald then mentioned that, “The NIH has renewed several controversial animal testing projects initiated by Dr. Anthony Fauci and other NIH staff members,” all of which Bhattacharya might have had authority to cancel, but were never under Kleinstreuer’s jurisdiction.
Advanced alternatives
Kleinstreuer, before appointment to her present position by Bhattacharya, directed the National Toxicology Program Interagency Center for the Evaluation of Alternative Toxicological Methods within the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences.
“She also served as executive director of the congressionally mandated Interagency Coordinating Committee on the Validation of Alternative Methods,” according to her LinkedIn resume, “and as the U.S. national co-coordinator for the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development Test Guidelines Programme.
“In these roles, she led interagency and international efforts to promote new approach methodologies, reduce animal testing, and integrate computational modeling, artificial intelligence, and systems toxicology into regulatory science.”
(Beth Clifton collage)
Accomplishments
Working mostly behind the scenes, as author or co-author of more than 150 published scientific papers, Kleinstreuer was noticed by Richard Van Noorden of Nature.com on July 11, 2018 as co-developer of a “consensus computational model” that she said “performed just as well as the animal tests.”
“Later this year,” reported Van Noorden, “the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) plans to release the consensus model online for free download.”
On April 23, 2021, Kleinstreuer announced that, “After over a decade of work, the national coordinators from the 36 member countries of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development have an internationally harmonized guideline for non-animal, human biology-based defined approaches as an alternative to the animal test for skin sensitization.
“This is the first of its kind,” Kleinstreuer said, “and hopefully will pave the way for many more alternatives to animal testing that provide more rapid, human-relevant methods, to ensure chemical safety and human health protection. I was honored to serve as the U.S. lead on this project, and I can’t even express how much this means to me to see it succeed.”
PCRM testified for Kleinstreuer
Testified Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine [PCRM] on November 21, 2024, “With inspiring work from leaders like Dr. Nicole Kleinstreuer, we’re advancing toward a future of more predictive, nonanimal testing methods that enhance human health outcomes.
“As a keynote speaker at our most recent Summer Immersion on Innovative Approaches in Science,” PCRM said, “Dr. Kleinstreuer delivered a thought-provoking presentation, ‘Revolutionizing the Regulatory Landscape: Human-Based Methods for Chemical Safety Testing and Pharmaceutical Development.’
“Her dedication to advancing nonanimal methods in regulatory testing is invaluable, and we’re grateful for her leadership and vision in transforming science!”
PETA praised both ORIVA & Kleinstreuer
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals [PETA] on June 18, 2025 lauded the formation of ORIVA.
“This is a turning point!” said a PETA prepared statement. “The National Institutes of Health is shifting funding away from animal testing, including Harvard University’s twisted baby monkey experiments, into research that actually helps humans. We’re grateful to Dr. Nicole Kleinstreuer, NIH Director Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, and [Secretary of Health & Human Services] Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. for championing this move!”
Different tools for different jobs
Bellotti’s bottom line to MacDonald of Gateway Pundit: “Though the Trump-haters at PETA keep making the media rounds trying to claim victory for this and other White Coat Waste wins, White Coat Waste remains the only animal advocacy organization to shut down any government primate lab in nearly a decade, any government dog testing labs in almost 20 years, and any government cat lab in the last 40 years.”
(Gene Chontos photo)
All of which may be true, but shutting down cruel and useless boondoggles is one thing, requiring no replacement, while reorienting useful research to emphasize non-animal methods is quite another, requiring discovering, perfecting, and making those methods available.
The former takes protest; the latter takes science.
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I can’t believe we’re being criticized by the legacy animal rights groups (and their funders) for trying to take advantage of this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity (created by White Coat Waste investigations) to cripple animal testing—and do it right now.
And I truly can’t believe that these legacy groups are now angry that White Coat Waste is criticizing the world’s #1 funder of animal experimentation. Why are the legacy groups defending Kleinstreuer and turning a blind eye to her own words: “animal studies are still very important and often scientifically justified.” How do they justify that part of her quote? The legacy groups must now be totally captured by the NIH.
[Editor’s note: As ANIMALS 24-7 points out in our coverage, above, Bellotti is quoting only half of Kleinstreuer’s actual statement, and in so doing, significantly altering the context.]
Our rhetoric and tactics are not only fair—but Kleinstreuer herself is fair game. She’s an acting deputy director in the NIH leadership. As the animal testing czar, Kleinstreuer has very broad NIH policy-making authority.
[Editor’s note: The terms “acting” and “deputy” imply a significant lack of independent authority. Kleinstreuer as ORIVA chief has a mandate to “develop, validate, and scale” alternatives to animal studies. That hardly makes her “the animal testing czar.” Kleinstreuer actually appears to have practically no authority over either ongoing or proposed experiments; that is not her jurisdiction.
Beyond that, where ANIMALS 24-7 comes from, a person, as opposed to an action or a policy, is “fair game” only if the person can be fairly accused of significant moral turpitude––and the response to even significant moral turpitude must fairly represent it. Misrepresenting what someone said, did, or can do is inherently not fair.]
And our mission is to criticize and kill bad animal testing policies. (Please refer to our detailed statement about ORIVA from June 9, 2025).
[Editor’s note: It is quoted in our coverage, above.]
We said Kleinstreuer’s ORIVA looks like an Obama-Biden NIH policy because it does. ORIVA has no spending cuts. No deadlines. No animal testing phaseout.
[Editor’s note: It is inherently unfair to blame Kleinstreuer for not doing what she has never had the authority to do in the first place.]
Kleinstreuer—and Jay Bhattacharya—are now way out of step with both our supporters and the Trump-RFK agenda of cutting wasteful spending on experiments like Fauci’s beagle torture. They didn’t have to authorize a Fauci-funded lab in Missouri where 400 dogs are slated to be eaten alive by mutant ticks. But the NIH did it anyway—all under Bhattacharya and Kleinstreuer, while the Pentagon and EPA are shutting down and banning animal labs and retiring survivors now.
The NIH can indeed shut down wasteful animal tests immediately. Case in point: earlier this year, Trump and DOGE cut ten transgender animal testing labs (likely sparing tens of thousands of rats and mice) after a White Coat Waste investigation—and it happened just prior to the Bhattacharya-Kleinstreuer regime.
We don’t really care what excuses Kleinstreuer or the legacy animal rights groups give for why NIH can’t cut more wasteful labs right now. Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and President Trump’s orders were crystal clear: slash the NIH’s 2026 budget by 40% and do it now, not when the alternatives are better, or when “reality” is more convenient for Kleinstreuer. At least 40% of the NIH’s $48 billion budget is wasted on animal testing. So, what’s Kleinstreuer’s excuse to the Oval Office?
[Editor’s note: The NIH mandate, including budget approval, comes from Congress, not from either the president or the Secretary of Health & Human Services.]
We understand Kleinstreuer is buddies with PETA and PCRM. We also appreciate Jim Greenbaum’s early support. But Greenbaum had already stopped funding White Coat Waste two years ago. And, before Greenbaum deleted our response in his Facebook tirade—thereby censoring Justin Goodman’s and my criticism of NIH— we responded in full to his baseless accusations.
Furthermore, on June 24, 2025, Jim called me about this matter. His request? Stop the criticism of Kleinstreuer. I explained that we wouldn’t; White Coat Waste opposes her policy of predicating lab cuts on alternatives. Since the beginning of the year, before ORIVA was even launched, we’ve communicated this to NIH officials, including Jay Bhattacharya himself.
I’ve now explained this to Greenbaum too, so he knows fully well why we’re using these tactics and rhetoric to rally pet owners and taxpayers against ORIVA. As I explained to Greenbaum during the June 24 call, Kleinstreuer’s “non-animal models” agenda looks a lot like the legacy animal rights groups who promoted fake meat as a strategy to reduce the number of animals abused on factory farms. Well, the legacy groups’ big funders ran into a big problem with that expensive gamble: meat consumption skyrocketed—in spite of better veggie burgers.
White Coat Waste is determined not to let that happen to animals in labs. So, we’re leading the charge to end the legacy movement’s culture of losing—and that starts with cutting animal testing now and ending Kleinstreuer’s ORIVA approach.
Very disappointing. The above criticism of White Coat Waste sure looks political to me. With all due respect for your very informative animal rights website, I cannot recall anytime that WCW has been mentioned without some comment to the effect of “leans very far to the right” as per above, or without their accomplishments being somewhat downplayed. Rather than giving them credit for “shutting down cruel and useless [animal testing] boondoggles”, they are being criticized for wanting animal experimentation to stop now. Greenbaum’s comment that they have “ betrayed the animals” seems to be inaccurately over the top when their actions have been inspiring cuts to government funding for animal experimentation.
Their recent email has notified supporters that NIH is still propagating kittens having their eyes sewn shut, monkeys being tortured by terrifying them with snakes and spiders, & heinous tick biting experiments on beagles. Why are these experiments necessary? Only about 5% of this torture on animals correlates to results with humans. So after all this torture, the greater probability is that it will have had no effect on medical treatment for people. If we are spending money for medical research, let us spend money to find ways that are more accurate rather than 95% unhelpful. Animal experimentation is unethical and immoral period.
Historically, and to the present, the overwhelming majority of national animal advocacy groups have been largely apolitical, steering toward safe middle ground. Only three in recent years have even endorsed presidential candidates. Most never have. The leadership of the biggest several have personally leaned either moderate Republican or moderate Democrat, many wavering back and forth, with no evident deep political convictions or allegiances other than on animal issues. The two biggest fundraisers-for-hire in the field in the present century both previously represented Republican causes and candidates; one of them still does.
No major national animal advocacy group leader has leaned far left or had a significant background in left-leaning political issues since In Defense of Animals founder Elliot Katz stepped down in 2009. White Coat Waste Project, mandated by founder Anthony Bellotti to “push it to the right,” is the first U.S. national animal advocacy organization to lean hard right since the several spin-offs from CIVITAS, founded by Hans Reusch [1913-2007], dissolved with the deaths of their founders.
Thank you 24-7 for an absolutely well presented explanation of all that is transpiring. I couldn’t understand that all animal testing was going to be “thrown out” and non-animal testing was all ready to go, so easily. It sounded so unrealistic. I reveled in the announcement that “it was over”. So now the fairy tale is amended to real life circumstances. However, the march to non-animal testing is in motion. Let us all do what we can to move it along. Realism is many times hard to bear. My motto is “Persevere”.