PETA requests an end to the use of animals in "Havana syndrome" research

The Pentagon must shut down its animal experimentation using radio frequencies to attempt to determine the cause of the mysterious "Havana Syndrome" illness, PETA urged Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin in a letter on Monday. The group argued that the experiments are not only cruel and wasteful, but also futile due to the difficulty of translating experimental results from animal models into humans. The ODNI report published last week declared it "very unlikely" that either a directed energy weapon or incidental exposure to radio waves had produced the illness. These tests are part of more than 2,000 weapon-wounding tests conducted under the authority of the US Army Medical Research and Development Command, which were banned before 2020. PETA has renewed its call for scientists to abandon the animal-testing model as wasteful and unproductive in addition to inhumane.

Hundreds of US government personnel have been affected by Havana syndrome, which first manifested in 2016 at the US' newly-opened diplomatic facility in Cuba and has since been reported by American officials all over the world. The seven intelligence agencies that contributed to the ODNI report doubt any foreign adversary could have access to a weapon capable of causing the constellation of symptoms seen in Havana syndrome patients, but some agencies still think radio frequencies could be the cause. The Pentagon has thus far refused to abandon its animal research.