HUMANE TREATMENT OF ANIMALS USED IN RESEARCH 19 
U.S. agency or instrumentality. Use of funds by the noncomplying agency or 
instrumentality for experiments or tests involving the use of animals would be 
prohibited. Grants or payments to laboratories whose certificate had been 
suspended or revoked would also be prohibited. 
The bill provides for the Commissioner to report to the Department of Justice 
false statements in applications or reports. It would require the Commissioner 
to hold a public hearing whenever any State law enforcement agency or in- 
corporated humane society alleged specific violations of the act. It would 
require lists of certificates of compliance and letters of qualification, and appli- 
cations therefor, and project plans and annual reports to be made available to 
the public, except when the records of specific projects are certified to involve 
military security. 
The primary objective of the bill is to provide for. the humane treatment of 
animals used in connection with research, experiments, tests, training programs, 
and production of medical and pharmaceutical materials. The agencies of this 
Department and those of the State agricultural experiment stations have always 
followed a policy of humane treatment of experimental animals. The conditions 
in the bill pertaining to care and use of laboratory animals correspond in every 
essential respect to our principals and practices for conducting competent bio- 
logical studies. These are essential procedural conditions which must be followed 
in order to assure reliable experimental results. Pain or fear, particularly if 
severe, is undesirable in animal experiments because these sensations are likely 
to alter significantly any results that are related to normal physiologic functions. 
Humane consideration for experimental animals is a recognized ethical attribute 
of professionally qualified scientists. Accordingly, the experimental animal is 
customarily spared unnecessary pain and fear as a good scientific practice, as 
well as for normal humanitarian principles. For these reasons our scientists are 
amply qualified to govern the handling of experimental animals which are under 
their direction. 
In carrying out our agricultural research, use of experimental animals is 
frequently the only means for obtaining biological and other scientific informa- 
tion, but for both the scientific institutions and the scientific staffs use of the 
laboratory animal becomes burdensome. They are costly to maintain and 
require special care on a daily basis. Since live animals are individually variable, 
they afford methods that are the least amenable to scientific control. Therefore, 
it is our policy to use experimental animals only when no other feasible and 
satisfactory methods can be used. This is a scientifically sound practice. 
The provision requiring preapproval of project plans would require the research 
scientist to anticipate his exploratory investigations before testing his hypotheses. 
This requirement ignores the basic conditions that are essential to creative, pro- 
ductve scientific progress through laboratory experimentation. 
We do not believe that the mechanism specified in the bill for obtaining certifi- 
cates of compliance and licenses in the attainment of objectives is a desirable 
approach. Similarly, the filing of a project plan and reporting thereon to a 
specified agency of Government for each agricultural experiment or test involving 
the use of live animals would not be a practicable approach from the standpoint 
of the paperwork involved. This would cause unconscionable delays in initiation 
of research. In light of the factors mentioned above, the Department of Agricul- 
ture opposes the enactment of H.R. 3556. 
The Bureau of the Budget advises that there is no objection to the presenta- 
tion of this report from the standpoint of the administration’s program. 
Sincerely yours, 
Orville L. Freeman, Secretary. 
Department of the Army, 
Washington, D.C., October 12, 1962. 
Hon. Oren Harris, 
Chairman, Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce, 
House of Representatives. 
Dear Mr. Chairman : Reference is made to your request to the Secretary of 
Defense for the views of the Department of Defense with respect to H.R. 3556, 
87th Congress, a bill to provide for the humane treatment of animals used in 
experiments and tests, and so forth. The Secretary of Defense has delegated 
to the Department of the Army the responsibility for expressing the views of the 
Department of Defense thereon. 
