HUMANE TREATMENT OF ANIMALS USED IN RESEARCH 199 
Mr. Koberts. Without objection. 
(The prepared statement of Mr. Myers follows :) 
Statement of Feed Myers, Executive Dibectok, the Humane Society of the 
United States, in Support of H.R. 3556 
I appear on behalf of the Humane Society of the United States, a national 
organization, whose purpose is the prevention of cruelty and propagation of a 
humane ethic, and for the society’s branches and affiliated local humane societies. 
The membership for which I speak is distributed through every State of the 
Union. Our membership has specifically endorsed the substance of what I shall 
say, acting in two annual national conventions and through referendum balloting 
on the underlying fundamental policies. 
The Humane Society of the United States unqualifiedly endorses H.R. 3556, a 
bill introduced by Representative Morgan Moulder, and strongly urges its enact- 
ment into law. 
We support Congressman Moulder’s bill for these reasons : 
(1) An immense amount of physical pain now is being inflicted every 
year on animals used in research, teaching, and the production of pharma- 
ceutical materials ; 
(2) Much of this pain can be avoided without impeding medical research 
or any other necessary or useful activity ; 
(3) The infliction of pain that is avoidable constitutes cruelty and is 
inconsonant with the moral standards of the American people and with 
long-established legal policies of the Government of the United States — 
millions of Americans join in asking the Congress to take action because of 
the moral issues involved ; 
(4) Mr. Moulder’s bill would save millions of dollars of public funds now 
wasted annually ; 
(5) The proposed law would in many instances improve the quality of 
medical research and operate to protect the public against dangerously in- 
valid conclusions about drugs, disease, and experimental medical and surgi- 
cal procedures ; 
(6) The highly desirable potential results of H.R. 3556 cannot be obtained 
without the sanction of Federal law. 
If the statements that I have just made are true, then unquestionably the Con- 
gress will want to enact H.R. 3556. I shall undertake, therefore, to offer proof 
that these statements are true. 
Before proceeding, however, I think that I might help this committee by defin- 
ing the purposes of H.R. 3556, as we understand them, and the motives of our 
members who find those purposes laudable. 
First of all, I believe that I should stress the fact that the Humane Society of 
the United States is not an “antivivisection” society, as that term has come com- 
monly to be understood. We oppose and we seek to prevent all cruelty but we are 
realistically aware that the use of animals in research will continue far into the 
future. As the chief executive of a national antivivisection society once re- 
marked to me, “animals will be used until the doctors themselves find a way they 
like better.” So the Humane Society of the United States is not attempting to 
abolish use of animals in research. We restrict ourselves to what we can hope to 
accomplish — in this case the elimination of suffering that can be prevented with- 
out impeding honest and careful research. 
H.R. 3556 is a bill that exactly conforms to those purposes. 
Now I have said, as a first argument in support of H.R. 3556, that an immense 
amount of physical pain now is being inflicted every year on animals used in re- 
search and allied pursuits. You, as a committee of the Congress, are entitled to 
proof of that statement. 
We estimate that more than 300 million vertebrate animals are now being used 
annually in research, teaching, and pharmaceutical production processes in the 
United States. The number is so vast that it must be hard even for Congressmen, 
accustomed though they are to huge figures, to comprehend. Perhaps the enor- 
mity of the number will be more easily realized if I translate it into an equiva- 
lent : 10 animals per second, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, the whole year around. 
In every second while we meet here, 10 vertebrate animals are being used (which 
means they are being killed), in America’s laboratories. 
It was soberly predicted about a year ago, by an animal-using scientist speak- 
ing to a meeting of scientists and laboratory technicians, that by 1970 the mone- 
