1284 
THE USE OF ANIMALS IN MEDICAL RESEARCH AND EXPERIMENTATION 
of animals by tending to their needs. In some 
ways the law and NIH guidelines will help us 
apply the principles to which veterinary medi- 
cine as a profession is dedicated. 
I have discussed the impact of the law with 
a number of my colleagues. Some are in private 
practice, some involved in veterinary medical 
education and others hold positions of responsi- 
bility managing research animal facilities. In 
all cases I have been told that they believe the 
law is good and will have beneficial effects re- 
garding handling of research animals. 
I will now switch to my hat as a physiologist. 
Again I reiterate my statement that there is 
nothing in the law which will upset physiolo- 
gists because as a profession we have always 
adhered to a policy of humane treatment for 
animals. 
We also believe that animal research is es- 
sential if we are ever to understand the many 
mysteries of the animal body. Progress in 
medicine demands that this kind of research 
be done. As Doctor Jack Norman so eloquently 
stated a few minutes ago, there are many people 
alive today who could not have had their ill- 
nesses cured or controlled had it not been for 
medical research performed on animals. In the 
future animals will continue to serve humanity 
by providing biological information which will 
help us learn how to control crippling and kill- 
ing diseases. 
With due respect to the Department of Agri- 
culture with its new law and NIH with its 
Guidelines for the Use of Experimental Ani- 
mals I must state that the American Physiolog- 
ical Society has had requirements for the 
humane use of experimental animals which pre- 
ceded the new government regulations. For 
many years The Society has had its own Guid- 
ing Principles for Care and Use of Animals. The 
principles are published in our journals and 
are enforced through editorial policy. Every 
referee editor when evaluating a manuscript 
must certify that in his opinion the principles 
had been adhere to when the experiments were 
conducted. 
In order to increase our capability to assure 
that the principles will be followed the Council 
of APS has enlarged its Committee on Animal 
Care and Experimentation and I have the honor 
of being chairman of the large committee. I am 
now speaking to you in that capacity. Two other 
members of the committee are in the audience 
tonight because of their interest in the new 
regulations. One of the responsibilities of this 
committee will be to help physiologists learn 
what they must do to conform to the regula- 
tions governing animal experimentation. 
In my opinion the research community has a 
vested interest in the regulations and will 
ultimately benefit from them. As investigators 
we must help each other understand the mean- 
ing of the laws and how to abide by their re- 
quirements. One way would be for those socie- 
ties which do not already have editorial policies 
designed to encourage adherence to the law to 
establish such editorial policies. I have here one 
of the forms which is used by APS when a 
manuscript is evaluated. Members of the audi- 
ence are welcome to examine it to determine 
whether it might be helpful in their own situa- 
tion. 
Lastly, Mr. Chairman, it appears to me that 
within the new law it is implied that new stand- 
ards will be set, and if they are set it may make 
compliance with the law more difficult unless 
they are based on sound scientific principles. 
For an example I will use requirements regard- 
ing dog runs. I have heard rumors that there 
may be stricter regulations for provision of dog 
runs. Before a standard like this is written into 
the law I believe that NIH should accept re- 
sponsibility to see that definitive research is done 
to fully establish the need for such a standard, 
and that the standards be based on firm scien- 
tific evidence rather than empirical information 
as many now are. I am not condemning the use 
of empirical data because I realize it is the best 
information currently available to us. I believe 
we must have better information. 
Requiring runs would obviously be for the 
purpose of permitting dogs an opportunity to 
exercise, and no physiologist would argue that 
exercise is not important to help keep animals 
healthy. However, as most of us who have 
worked with dogs know, simply providing them 
a run will not guarantee they will use it. Many 
dogs will merely sit in a corner and in reality 
will be no better off than if they i^emained in 
their cages. If evercise is the objective there 
