Director, Actor Alison Eastwood—Daughter of Hollywood Legend Clint Eastwood—Adds to Growing Support for Michigan Bills to Outlaw Taxpayer-Funded Dog Experiments

LANSING, Mich.—From the start of the letter, it’s clear the apple didn’t fall far from the tree. “Just like many of your constituents, I come from a family of dog lovers,” Hollywood director and actor Alison Eastwood wrote today to Michigan House Speaker Matt Hall and Senate Majority Leader Winnie Brinks. Her father, icon Clint Eastwood, is no stranger to politics or animals—he once served as mayor of Carmel-by-the-Sea, Calif., and is a well-known animal advocate. In her letter, Eastwood asked Hall and Brinks to pass Queenie’s Law (HB 4254 and SB 127), which would prohibit painful dog experiments at public institutions.

Also today, Detroit Lions tight end Brock Wright and his fiancée Carley Johnston endorsed the legislation in a letter to Hall and Brinks. They join Wright’s teammate Sam LaPorta and his wife Callie, who wrote in support of Queenie’s Law in November.

The House Regulatory Reform Committee voted overwhelmingly in favor of the legislation on Oct. 30 with 14 legislators supporting, no legislators opposing, and two passing. The bill has been referred to the House Rules Committee while the Senate version awaits a hearing.

“The legislation was named after a stray from Gratiot County who suffered and died in taxpayer-funded experiments,” Eastwood wrote. “Since Queenie, hundreds of other dogs have died in the same, ongoing experiments.”

The medical ethics nonprofit Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, which has been advocating for Queenie’s Law, worked with Eastwood on the letter. She founded and oversees the Eastwood Ranch Foundation, an animal rescue in California.

“Republicans and Democrats overwhelmingly support ending painful, taxpayer-funded dog experiments,” said Ryan Merkley, director of research advocacy for the Physicians Committee. “We hope leaders of the Michigan Legislature will see that and advance these lifesaving bills.”

The Physicians Committee points out that human-relevant methods like trials involving patients, population studies, 3D organoids, and the use of donated human hearts are producing results for patients. In 2015, the Texas Heart Institute, dedicated solely to addressing cardiovascular disease, stopped using dogs altogether.

To see the letters from Eastwood or Wright and Johnston or to speak with Mr. Merkley, please contact Reina Pohl at 202-527-7326 or rpohl [at] pcrm.org (rpohl[at]pcrm[dot]org).