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Should the AWA Cover Poll
Shows Researchers Favor
Statements of Support from Letter
of Support from
Oversight and Coordination
All Laboratory Animals
Agony of Animals at Amgen |
Statements of Support from Scientists, Scientific Associations, and Scientific Publications: “[We] can identify no philosophical or scientific reason for excluding these species (birds, rats, and mice) from USDA regulatory oversight.” —American College of Laboratory Animal Medicine “…[A] recent survey of Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee members reveals that most researchers actually favor AWA regulation of these species…. A clear majority of animal researchers and other IACUC members favored AWA coverage for mice, rats, and birds. Even animal researchers in psychology, psychopharmacology, and behavioral neuroscience support AWA coverage of these animals, despite the fact that these disciplines would be among the most affected by AWA regulation of mice, rats, and birds.” —Survey conducted by Scott Plous (Dept. of Psychology, Wesleyan University) and Harold Herzog (Dept. of Psychology, West Carolina University), published in Science, Vol. 290, 27 October 2000 “If we use ethological sophistication to provide laboratory animals with the very best physical and social environmental conditions for their well-being, we need to use fewer of them in research experiments or routine tests, and our results will be more accurate and reliable.” —Michael R. A. Chance and William M.S. Russell, “The Benefits of Giving Experimental Animals the Best Possible Environment,” in Comfortable Quarters for Laboratory Animals, Viktor Reinhardt, ed., AWI, 1997 “The fact that laboratory-bred rats and mice are not covered by USDA regulations sends the wrong message to scientists entering these rapidly developing fields of science, as well as to the public. SCAW strongly feels that the USDA should act promptly to change laboratory-bred rats and mice from non-regulated species to regulated species.” —Scientists Center for Animal Welfare “The United States is the largest user of laboratory animals in the world and the only country that excludes the most-used species, i.e., mice, rats, and birds, from its animal protection law. This exclusion is detrimental not only to the welfare of these animals, but also to scientific outcomes, scientific integrity, and public confidence in science. Extension of the regulations to these species is both morally right and essential for reasonable public accountability.” —F. Barbara Orlans, Ph.D., Senior Research Fellow, Kennedy Institute of Ethics, Georgetown University; former staff scientist, National Institutes of Health. “The political and economic rationale that led to the exclusion in the AWA of the vast majority of animals used in research is ethically indefensible.” —The American Association for Laboratory Animal Science “…[I]t would be a distortion to present the debate as a conflict between animal researchers and animal protectionists…Some of the research lobby’s arguments verge on the reactionary…[R]esearch lobbyists who have often stated that it is a privilege to use lab animals now risk giving the impression that some of them consider it a right. If that continues, research could suffer.” —Nature, Editorial, 12 October 2000, Vol. 407, No. 6805 “We now recognize that animal welfare and good science are inseparable. It is crucial both from a humane and scientific perspective that laboratory animals are comfortable in their surroundings.” —John Gluck, Ph.D., Professor, Department of Psychology and Chairman, IACUC, University of New Mexico Working Group to Preserve the
Animal Welfare Act/ |