HUMANE TREATMENT OF ANIMALS USED IN RESEARCH 13 
term, and at worst an all-encompassing one. Thus, simple injections, ordinarily 
administered by technicians, are to some extent “painful.” Are such injections 
to be outlawed? In respect to the requirement that certain experimental animals 
used by students when subjected to painful procedures shall be “under complete 
anesthesia,” such requirement would, in some cases, negate the value of the ex- 
periment because of the tissue injuries resulting from such anesthesia. 
In summary, it is stressed that the Department of Defense already adheres 
to the recognized standards for humane treatment of experimental animals es- 
tablished by the National Society for Medical Research, that there is dubious 
value in establishing a uniform Federal policy in this area, that the bill, if 
enacted in its present form, would have a deleterious effect on Government-sup- 
ported research programs in terms of delays and administrative burdens, that 
the costs to the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare of implementing 
the bill’s program appear enormous in the light of the elaborate administrative 
machinery contemplated by the bill, and that such costs might more profitably 
be devoted to additional research effort. 
The fiscal effects of this legislation are not known to the Department of 
Defense. 
This report has been coordinated within the Department of Defense in accord- 
ance with procedures prescribed by the Secretary of Defense. 
The Bureau of the Budget advises that, from the standpoint of the adminis- 
tration’s program, there is no objection to the presentation of this report for 
the consideration of the committee. 
Sincerely yours, 
Cyrus R. Vance, Secretary of the Army. 
Veterans’ Administration, 
September 27, 1962. 
Hon. Oren Harris, 
Chairman, Committee on Interstate and Foreiyn Commerce, 
House of Representatives, Washington, D.C. 
Dear Mr. Chairman : The following comments are furnished pursuant to your 
request for a report by the Veterans’ Administration on H.R. 1937, 87th Congress. 
The purpose of the bill is to provide a system of controls to assure the humane 
treatment of animals used in experiments and tests by recipients of grants from 
the United States and by agencies and instrumentalities of the U.S. Govern- 
ment. 
The bill would establish certain specific requirements for the compliance of 
persons or agencies using live animals for research, experiments, tests, or train- 
ing and would make the Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare responsi- 
ble for administering a program of control measures designed to insure the 
humane treatment of such animals. It would prohibit Federal grants to persons 
engaged in such research activities unless they have a certificate of compliance 
with the prescribed requirements issued by the Secretary. 
The bill would prohibit any experiment or test on living animals unless an 
acceptable project plan has been filed with the Secretary describing the nature 
and purposes of the project and procedures to be employed with respect to liv- 
ing animals. It provides for the maintenance of detailed records on all experi- 
ments and tests and requires that an annual report specifying the number of ani- 
mals used, the procedures employed, and such other matters as the Secretary 
may prescribe, be submitted to the Secretary. 
I am sure that all reasonable persons would agree with the principle that 
laboratory animals should receive humane treatment. This is a concept so 
firmly established in our culture that its promulgation by legislative mandate 
would seem to be unnecessary. Moreover, we feel that the flexibility essential 
to the conduct of an effective research program would be unduly limited by the 
system of centralized controls contemplated by the bill. This legislation, if 
enacted, could very seriously retard the progress of research programs involv- 
ing the use of animals. 
While we cannot estimate the cost effect of the proposed measure on our re- 
search activities, the additional administrative work which would be required 
by the regulatory and procedural provisions of the bill would undoubtedly be 
considerable. 
