Ethical Considerations And Regulatory Issues
This chapter, geared toward animal experimenters, examines the literature addressing ethical issues of animal welfare within the laboratory setting. It will be useful for animal advocates interested in a literature review of the current ethical debates within the animal experimentation community about animal welfare in the laboratory setting.
Article Abstract:
“Using animals in research presents ethical challenges to the laboratory animal professional. Descriptive laboratory animal use ethics, the study of the actual values and standards of our profession, examines various published principles and guidelines. These principles and guidelines are used as an ethical framework for consideration in this chapter of animal use challenges such as those related to breeding colony maintenance; use of genetically modified animals; cancer research; use of perinatal animals in research; and neuroscience and behavioral research. Readers are urged to compare the use of standard principles and guidelines with their own moral experiences and insight to develop their own ethos with respect to such situations. Animal welfare is a core concern of veterinary (and laboratory animal use) ethics, so it cannot be divorced from the discussion. Therefore, strategies for enhancing animal welfare will also be discussed. In addition, compliance with regulations is a moral imperative and the principles and guidelines discussed are interrelated with national and international regulations and standards. Therefore, this chapter includes a brief overview of regulations.”