10 HUMANE TREATMENT OF ANIMALS USED IN RESEARCH 
(i) Access must be given for inspection of animals, premises, books, and 
records by authorized representatives of the Secretary who would also be 
authorized to destroy or require the destruction of animals used for research, 
experimentation, tests, or training. 
The Secretary would be required to license applicants to engage in experiments 
or tests if the Secretary is satisfied that they are qualified for such purposes. 
If the Secretary determines that any agency or instrumentality of the United 
States has not complied with the provisions of the bill and if such non- 
compliance is not corrected within 30 days, he would be required to give public 
notice of such noncompliance. 
The Secretary would be directed to issue rules, regulations, procedures, and 
orders to carry out the bill. 
The Secretary would suspend or revoke any certificate of compliance or any 
license, for failure to comply with any provision of the bill, and would be 
required to set a time limit within which reinstatement may be applied for. No 
grant or payment under a grant could be made to any person whose certificate is 
suspended or revoked to the extent the Secertary so orders. 
The Secretary would be required to refuse to accept any project plan or could 
strike any project plan from filing if he determines that it does not conform to 
the requirements of the bill or rules, regulations, procedures, and others there- 
under. 
The term “person” as used in the bill would include individuals, institutions, 
organizations, corporations, and partnerships. 
The primary objective of the bill is to provide for the humane treatment of 
animals used in connection with scientific research, experimentation, testing, 
and training programs. The agencies of this Department and those of the 
State agricultural experiment stations have always followed a policy of humane 
treatment of experimental animals. We believe that the qualitative conditions 
specified in subsections 4 (a) to (e), inclusive, have been and are being equaled 
or surpassed in these laboratories. The conditions pertaining to care and use 
of laboratory animals correspond in every essential respect to our principles and 
practices for conducting competent biological studies. These are essential pro- 
cedural conditions which must be followed in order to assure reliable experi- 
mental 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 un- 
necessary pain and fear as a good scientific practice, as well as a normal humani- 
tarian principle. For these reasons our scientists are amply qualified to govern 
the handling of such experimental animals which are under their direction. 
In carrying out our agricultural research, experimental animals are frequently 
the only means for obtaining biological and other scientific information, but 
for both the scientific institutions and the scientific staffs the laboratory animal 
becomes burdensome. They are costly to maintain and most 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 requirements imposed in subsections 4 (f) to (i) would not accomplish 
any improvement in humane treatment of experimental animals. Compliance 
with these subsections would impede and delay the progress of research and 
burden the scientific staff with additional record keeping. Additional reporting 
requirements would have no pertinence to the planning and execution of scientific 
research. The provision, particularly under subsection 4(g), requiring pre- 
approval of project plans, would require the research scientist to anticipate his 
exploratory investigations before testing his hypotheses. This x-equirement 
ignores the basic conditions that are essential to creative, productive scientific 
progress through laboratory experimentation. 
In light of the factors mentioned above, the Department of Agriculture opposes 
the enactment of H.R. 1987. In our opinion, Federal regulation by a Depart- 
ment of Government of all scientific research, experimentation, testing, and 
training involving the use of living vertebrate animals, if any portion of such 
activities is financed from Federal funds, would impose unnecessary administra- 
tive burdens, without compensating advantages. Nor do we believe that the 
mechanism specified in the bill for obtaining certificates of compliance and 
