Sections 446 and 447 of the Criminal Code protect animals from cruelty, abuse and neglect. This article of the Criminal Code has been under revision for several years. Some cats and dogs in the lab still come directly from shelters, a practice known as “pound attack.” Pound seizure laws vary from state to state, with one state (Oklahoma) requiring animal shelters to donate cats and dogs to labs instead of euthanizing them, and others allowing or prohibiting labs from taking animals from shelters. Some states have no laws at all and leave it safe or individual. The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) enforces this law by inspecting laboratories and monitoring compliance. The law, now known as the Animal Welfare Act (AWA), was amended four times (1970, 1976, 1985 and 1991), each time raising the level of animal care. The 1985 amendment was the most important and had two very significant results. First, an Animal Welfare Information Centre (www.nal.usda.gov/awic) was created to provide researchers with a database of alternatives to painful animal experiments. Second, any research facility in the United States that uses protected species must register with the USDA and establish an institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC) to review all experimental protocols involving live warm-blooded animals. Similar committees already existed to oversee clinical trials.
With the 1985 amendment to the AWA, the same scrutiny was extended to animal research. “There seems to be little awareness of the use of animals in experiments. Although there is an official guideline that should be followed, national universities do not adhere to the directive (especially in the selection of certain animal species, self-assessment and animal care/management). [25] For example, according to former National Cancer Institute director Dr. Richard Klausner, “We`ve cured mice of cancer for decades, and it just hasn`t worked in humans.” 8 This conclusion was echoed by the former director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Dr. Elias Zerhouni, who acknowledged that animal testing was a blessing. “We have moved away from the study of human diseases in humans,” he said. “We all drank Kool-Aid, myself included. The problem is that it didn`t work, and it`s time we stopped dancing around the problem. We need to refocus and adapt new methods for human use to understand the biology of disease in humans. 9 Through their taxes, charitable donations, and the purchase of lottery tickets and consumer goods, it is citizens who, knowingly or unknowingly, fund animal testing. One of the largest sources of funding comes from government licensing agencies like the NIH.
About 47% of NIH-funded research involves animal testing, and in 2020, the NIH budgeted nearly $42 billion for research and development.15,16 In addition, many charities, including the March of Dimes, the American Cancer Society, and countless others, use donations to fund animal testing. One-third of the projects funded by the National Multiple Sclerosis Society involve animal testing.17 The federal government and many health charities waste valuable taxpayers and well-meaning donors on animal testing at universities and private labs instead of supporting clinical studies. in vitro, epidemiological and other promising studies without animals that could actually benefit humans. Millions of animals are used in medical experiments every year, many of which are funded by taxpayer money and charitable donations. Learn the truth about these experiences. Fortunately, chimpanzees have not undergone invasive experiments in the United States since 2015, when federal decisions were made to prevent their use. Despite this, hundreds of chimpanzees are still languishing in laboratories waiting to be taken to sanctuaries. The experiences are often unbearably painful for the animals used and can vary in duration of a few days, months or years. During this time, the experience can cause vomiting, diarrhea, irritation, rashes, bleeding, loss of appetite, weight loss, seizures, shortness of breath, salivation, paralysis, lethargy, bleeding, organ abnormalities, tumors, heart failure, liver disease, cancer, and even death.
All research facilities in Ontario must be registered and licensed under the Animals for Research Act. The provisions of the Animals for Research Act include the requirement to establish an animal care committee, whose responsibilities and powers are similar to those of the CCAC system, as well as the requirement for each operator of a research institution to submit to the person designated by the Minister of Agriculture. Food and Rural Affairs a report on animals used for research purposes in the research establishment. [44] Rule 24 governs the housing and care of animals. Regulation 25 lays down the conditions of carriage of animals used or intended for use by a research establishment. The federal government does not have the power to pass laws that involve animal testing. The provinces are responsible for this area. However, the federal government intervenes in three areas: criminal power, health power and purchasing power. PETA is at the forefront of ending these abuses.
Our dedicated team of scientists and other staff work full-time to expose the cruelty of animal testing to ensure its speedy end. This team works with members of Congress to introduce groundbreaking legislation to replace the use of animals in laboratories, conducts powerful eyewitness accounts and public campaigns that have helped change public opinion against animal testing, and persuades major corporations, government agencies, and universities to adopt animal testing in favor of modern, humane methods. See a list of U.S. laboratories that use animals in experiments. Click on “License Type” and select “Class R – Research Institutions”. Note that the figures only include animals that fall under the Animal Welfare Act. Dess, N. K., & Foltin, R. W. (2004).
The ethical cascade. In: C. K. Akins, S. Panicker & C. L. Cunningham (eds.). Laboratory Animals in Research and Education: Ethics, Care and Methods (pp. 31-39).
APA. It is estimated that more than 50 million animals are used in experiments in the United States each year. Unfortunately, there are no exact numbers to determine exactly how many animals are used in the United States or around the world. As difficult as it may seem, some personal care and cleaning companies still perform cruel and unnecessary tests on animals. Research involving captive wildlife or domestic animals outside the laboratory that significantly alters the environment or the behaviour of non-human animals should be subject to IACUC approval (Ng et al., 2019). These include environments where the main research topics are humans, but where non-human animals are used in the study, such as: Research on the effectiveness of animal-assisted interventions (AAI) and research in zoos, animal shelters, etc. If it is not possible to establish an ECCUI in psychologists` own facilities, researchers should seek advice and ask an ECCUI to review a cooperative facility.