(WXYZ) — A new bill would explicitly prohibit publicly funded institutions from conducting painful experiments on dogs for research purposes.

State Rep. Sara Cambensy introduced House Bill 5090 to conduct "safe, more humane human-relevant research."

“I’m sponsoring this legislation, because for me and so many Michiganders, dogs are important members of our families and they deserve better,” said Cambensy. “Not only are these experiments cruel, they are medically unnecessary."

The bill has received the endorsement of 225 physicians throughout Michigan and bipartisan support in the Legislature.

“Not only are these experiments cruel, they are medically unnecessary," Cambensy said. "We have human, cell and computer-based research methods that render these types of experiments on dogs pointless and gratuitous. We know that our communities overwhelmingly oppose this practice and so we should not allow taxpayer dollars to fund invasive experiments that do nothing to help patients."

