Booker, Whitehouse Urge NIH to Protect Octopuses and Other Cephalopods Used in Research

WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Senators Cory Booker (D-NJ) and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) urged the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to strengthen protections for cephalopods used in federally supported research. In a letter to NIH Director Jayanta Bhattacharya, the senators urged the agency to follow Congress' direction in the 2026 Consolidated Appropriations Act and expand the definition of "animal" under the Public Health Service Policy on Humane Care and Use of Laboratory Animals to include cephalopods.

"Cephalopods, including squids, octopuses, cuttlefish, and nautiluses, are a highly intelligent, sensitive class of marine invertebrates capable of experiencing pain, distress, and suffering," wrote the senators. "However, because they are invertebrates, they are excluded from the welfare protections provided to most vertebrate animals via the PHS Policy."

NIH proposed guidance for the care of cephalopods in research in 2023 but has yet to release final guidance. The senators raised concerns that the proposed guidance omitted key welfare protections provided to vertebrate animals under the PHS Policy, including post-approval monitoring, justification for animal use in grant applications, and reporting of animal program deficiencies.

"If the final guidance is not meaningfully strengthened from the proposed version, it would fail to provide adequate protections for cephalopods used in NIH-supported research and would not be a sufficient substitute for applying PHS Policy to cephalopod research," wrote the senators.

The senators asked NIH to provide answers about the status and timeline for its final guidance, whether it plans to expand the PHS Policy's definition of "animal" to include cephalopods, and whether the final guidance will include additional welfare protections.

"Congress addressed this issue in the report of the 2026 Consolidated Appropriations Act. I encourage the NIH to swiftly act on Congress' recommendation and expand the definition of 'animal' under the PHS Policy to include cephalopods, and to provide comprehensive protections for cephalopods," wrote the senators.

Read the full text of the letter here.

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