HUMANE TREATMENT OF ANIMALS USED IN RESEARCH 121 
on crops, and in many other ways. Many other animals of course are also 
used in this method of testing. 
It is estimated that today more than 300 million animals of all kinds are 
used in research laboratories, both governmental and private, each year. 
Humane societies have been protesting the treatment, or mistreatment, of 
animals in the research experiments. Many, it is charged, have been sub- 
jected to unnecessary pain or tended by nonprofessional kennelmen. 
This has led to the introduction of two bills in Congress to require humane 
treatment of all these animals, and to set up standards of procedure and care 
which will bring this about. 
One of these bills has been introduced by Representative Morgan Moulder, 
Democrat, of Missouri ; the other by Mrs. Martha W. Griffiths, Democrat, of 
Michigan. 
There is no bill in the Senate at the present time. Senator John Sherman 
Cooper, Republican, of Kentucky, introduced such a bill a few years ago, but 
has not reintroduced it in the present Congress. 
Neither of the bills, it should be understood, are antivivisection bills. They 
do not oppose experimentation, but they do establish standards which would 
require all laboratories, coming under Federal jurisdiction or using Federal 
money, to spare animals all unnecessary pain and give them adequate care. 
Despite the successful crusade of Anne Free which helped provide larger 
quarters and exercise runways for animals used in Government experimenta- 
tion by the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, there are still 
many laboratories which scrimp on animal quarters yet spend money on plush 
office accommodations for company executives. 
The Moulder bill specifically requires humane shelters, including food, water, 
exercise, sanitation, light, temperature, humidity, and ventilation. It spells 
out the rules which should be followed in laboratories to spare the animals 
through the use of anesthetics unless such use would be considered to hinder 
the purpose of the experiment. 
The bill provides for an enforcement agency in the form of an agency for 
Laboratory Animal Control, under a commissioner protected by law from 
political pressures. 
The Griffiths bill is much the same in tenor, calling for the licensing of per- 
sonnel engaged in this work, and providing for Government access to books 
and to the premises. 
Both bills are supported by various humane organizations, such as the Hu- 
mane Society of the United States, the Animal Welfare Institute of New York, 
and the National Catholic Society for Animal Welfare. 
No hearings have been set as yet for these bills which come under the juris- 
diction of the Interstate and Foreign Commerce Committee, of which Repre- 
sentative Oren Harris, Democrat, of Arkansas, is chairman. 
Many advocates of this legislation are now writing to Mr. Harris in an 
effort to get a hearing for this legislation and others are even appealing di- 
rectly to the White House. The Humane Society is urging that people write 
to editors of their local newspapers appealing for support for the Moulder 
bill. 
Humanitarians Doing First-Rate Job Outlawing Animal Brutalities 
(By Ann Free, McClure Newspaper Syndicate, Washington) 
Don’t underrate the political power of humanitarians. 
They’ve been doing a first-rate job in the last few years to outlaw brutalities to 
animals. And it is largely overlooked by those who still think of the stereotype 
“image” of the bleeding heart fuddy-duddy. 
Not only have their efforts helped animals, they are helping this Nation in the 
eyes of the world. For example, their recent successful efforts — even to calling 
on President Kennedy for help — to eliminate clubbing from the annual rabbit 
roundup at Harmony, N.C., is saving this country from some embarrassment. 
They have prodded the U.S. Government into signing the International Con- 
vention for the Prevention of Pollution of the Sea by Oil. Thousands of sea birds 
have died a lingering death because ships discharged oil in areas where birds 
often alight. A new law prohibits the discharge of oil within 20 miles of shore 
and in some areas up to 100 miles. 
