The ethics of research involving animals - Nuffield Council on ...
The ethics of research involving animals - Nuffield Council on ...
The ethics of research involving animals - Nuffield Council on ...
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T h e e t h i c s o f r e s e a r c h i n v o l v i n g a n i m a l s<br />
also mounted a c<strong>on</strong>tinuing campaign against the owners <str<strong>on</strong>g>of</str<strong>on</strong>g> a facility for guinea pigs used in<br />
<str<strong>on</strong>g>research</str<strong>on</strong>g>, based in Staffordshire. Some <str<strong>on</strong>g>of</str<strong>on</strong>g> these protests are lawful, although there have also<br />
been a number <str<strong>on</strong>g>of</str<strong>on</strong>g> unlawful activities carried out by unidentified campaigners. <str<strong>on</strong>g>The</str<strong>on</strong>g>se include<br />
desecrati<strong>on</strong> <str<strong>on</strong>g>of</str<strong>on</strong>g> the grave and stealing <str<strong>on</strong>g>of</str<strong>on</strong>g> the body <str<strong>on</strong>g>of</str<strong>on</strong>g> a relati<strong>on</strong> <str<strong>on</strong>g>of</str<strong>on</strong>g> the Hall family, who<br />
operate the breeding facility, in October 2004. 33 We return to the issue <str<strong>on</strong>g>of</str<strong>on</strong>g> animal-rightsrelated<br />
violence and its implicati<strong>on</strong>s in Chapters 14 and 15 (Chapters 14 and 15 (paragraphs<br />
14.63 and 15.47–15.50).<br />
<str<strong>on</strong>g>The</str<strong>on</strong>g> origins <str<strong>on</strong>g>of</str<strong>on</strong>g> the UK Animal (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986<br />
2.25 In the early 1970s, the <str<strong>on</strong>g>Council</str<strong>on</strong>g> <str<strong>on</strong>g>of</str<strong>on</strong>g> Europe set up an ad hoc committee <str<strong>on</strong>g>of</str<strong>on</strong>g> experts to draft a<br />
c<strong>on</strong>venti<strong>on</strong> to establish guidance for animal <str<strong>on</strong>g>research</str<strong>on</strong>g>. This body developed a framework for<br />
legislati<strong>on</strong> and guidelines for laboratory animal housing, which was transposed with very few<br />
additi<strong>on</strong>s into Directive EEC 86/609 <str<strong>on</strong>g>of</str<strong>on</strong>g> the European Ec<strong>on</strong>omic Community (the predecessor <str<strong>on</strong>g>of</str<strong>on</strong>g><br />
the EU) in 1985. <str<strong>on</strong>g>The</str<strong>on</strong>g> Directive required Member States to adopt nati<strong>on</strong>al legislati<strong>on</strong>, or similar<br />
c<strong>on</strong>trols, <strong>on</strong> animal <str<strong>on</strong>g>research</str<strong>on</strong>g> in the light <str<strong>on</strong>g>of</str<strong>on</strong>g> its provisi<strong>on</strong>s (see paragraph 13.3). 34<br />
2.26 Meanwhile, pressure for new legislati<strong>on</strong> had been growing in the UK. 35 <str<strong>on</strong>g>The</str<strong>on</strong>g> combinati<strong>on</strong> <str<strong>on</strong>g>of</str<strong>on</strong>g><br />
the impending Directive EEC 86/609 and the willingness <str<strong>on</strong>g>of</str<strong>on</strong>g> the Home Office Minister at the<br />
time to resp<strong>on</strong>d to c<strong>on</strong>cerns about the age <str<strong>on</strong>g>of</str<strong>on</strong>g> the 1876 Act led to the drafting <str<strong>on</strong>g>of</str<strong>on</strong>g> a bill in<br />
1985. CRAE formed an alliance with the BVA and the scientific charity FRAME (see Box 2.4).<br />
Working together, these organisati<strong>on</strong>s had a str<strong>on</strong>g influence <strong>on</strong> the drafting <str<strong>on</strong>g>of</str<strong>on</strong>g> the Animals<br />
(Scientific Procedures) Act (A(SP)A), which was passed in 1986. 36 <str<strong>on</strong>g>The</str<strong>on</strong>g> cornerst<strong>on</strong>e <str<strong>on</strong>g>of</str<strong>on</strong>g> the Act,<br />
which is described in more detail in Chapter 13, is the cost-benefit assessment, 37 which<br />
focuses <strong>on</strong> an evaluati<strong>on</strong> <str<strong>on</strong>g>of</str<strong>on</strong>g> the likely scientific benefits to be gained from a <str<strong>on</strong>g>research</str<strong>on</strong>g><br />
proposal against the likely adverse effects to the <str<strong>on</strong>g>animals</str<strong>on</strong>g>, although these are not the <strong>on</strong>ly<br />
factors that are taken into account (see paragraph 3.58–3.60 and 13.16).<br />
2.27 In 2001, the European Commissi<strong>on</strong> decided to revise Directive EEC 86/609, and a Technical<br />
Expert Working Group was subsequently c<strong>on</strong>vened. It has recommended a number <str<strong>on</strong>g>of</str<strong>on</strong>g> ways<br />
in which the Directive should be revised. 38 <str<strong>on</strong>g>The</str<strong>on</strong>g>se revisi<strong>on</strong>s, which are currently under<br />
discussi<strong>on</strong>, would be binding for all EU Member States (see paragraph 13.47). <str<strong>on</strong>g>The</str<strong>on</strong>g>y include<br />
33 In early 2005 the owners and some <str<strong>on</strong>g>of</str<strong>on</strong>g> their neighbours applied for an exclusi<strong>on</strong> z<strong>on</strong>e around the farm, which was<br />
subsequently not granted by a judge. Instead, orders to regulate protests were imposed. <str<strong>on</strong>g>The</str<strong>on</strong>g> ruling judge said protesters<br />
had c<strong>on</strong>ducted a ‘guerrilla campaign <str<strong>on</strong>g>of</str<strong>on</strong>g> terrorism’, referring to acti<strong>on</strong>s taken against both staff and associates <str<strong>on</strong>g>of</str<strong>on</strong>g> staff. For<br />
example, it was reported that a petrol bomb and death threats had been delivered to staff and to the owners’ family in<br />
March 2005. See BBC News (2005) Activists branded as ‘terrorists’, available at:<br />
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/staffordshire/4184753.stm; BBC News (2005) Activists ‘no-go’ z<strong>on</strong>e rejected, available at:<br />
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/staffordshire/4356713.stm; BBC News (2005) Guinea pig farm’s family targeted, available<br />
at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/staffordshire/4342183.stm. All accessed <strong>on</strong>: 14 Apr 2005.<br />
34 Directives <str<strong>on</strong>g>of</str<strong>on</strong>g> the EU are binding law for the EU Member States. This is not the case for C<strong>on</strong>venti<strong>on</strong>s <str<strong>on</strong>g>of</str<strong>on</strong>g> the <str<strong>on</strong>g>Council</str<strong>on</strong>g> <str<strong>on</strong>g>of</str<strong>on</strong>g><br />
Europe, which usually have the status <str<strong>on</strong>g>of</str<strong>on</strong>g> multilateral treaties (see paragraph 13.39).<br />
35 In 1979, two Private Member’s Bills were introduced. <str<strong>on</strong>g>The</str<strong>on</strong>g> Fry Bill was drafted by the RSPCA and had the support <str<strong>on</strong>g>of</str<strong>on</strong>g> many<br />
other animal protecti<strong>on</strong> groups. In c<strong>on</strong>trast, the Halsbury Bill was drafted by the RDS and supported by a great number <str<strong>on</strong>g>of</str<strong>on</strong>g><br />
scientific organisati<strong>on</strong>s. Both bills went through to the committee stage, and the Halsbury Bill stimulated the Lords to have<br />
a Select Committee examine the issue in detail. When the C<strong>on</strong>servative Government was elected in 1979, it agreed to<br />
update the 1876 legislati<strong>on</strong>, which, it was widely acknowledged, was not well suited to regulating <str<strong>on</strong>g>research</str<strong>on</strong>g> a full century<br />
after it had been passed.<br />
36 For a more detailed discussi<strong>on</strong> <str<strong>on</strong>g>of</str<strong>on</strong>g> the background to the A(SP)A see Ryder RD (2000) Animal Revoluti<strong>on</strong>: Changing Attitudes<br />
Towards Speciesism (New York: Berg Publishers); Radford M (2001) Animal Welfare Law in Britain: Regulati<strong>on</strong> and<br />
resp<strong>on</strong>sibility (Oxford: Oxford University Press).<br />
37 Although the A(SP)A does not menti<strong>on</strong> the term cost-benefit analysis, the term is comm<strong>on</strong>ly used to refer to Secti<strong>on</strong> 5(4),<br />
which states that: ‘In determining whether and <strong>on</strong> what terms to grant a project licence the Secretary <str<strong>on</strong>g>of</str<strong>on</strong>g> State shall weigh<br />
the likely adverse effects <strong>on</strong> the <str<strong>on</strong>g>animals</str<strong>on</strong>g> c<strong>on</strong>cerned against the benefit likely to accrue as a result <str<strong>on</strong>g>of</str<strong>on</strong>g> the programme to be<br />
specified in the licence’.<br />
38 European Commissi<strong>on</strong> Directorate General for the Envir<strong>on</strong>ment Laboratory Animals, available at:<br />
http://europa.eu.int/comm/envir<strong>on</strong>ment/chemicals/lab_<str<strong>on</strong>g>animals</str<strong>on</strong>g>/revisi<strong>on</strong>_en.htm. Accessed <strong>on</strong>: 14 Apr 2005.<br />
CHAPTER 2 THE CONTEXT OF ANIMAL RESEARCH: PAST AND PRESENT<br />
27