HUMANE TREATMENT OF ANIMALS USED IN RESEARCH 255 
Dr. Moore. Thank you very much, sir. 
(The statements referred to follow:) 
Statement of Dr. Robert A. Moore 
Mr. Chairman, I am Dr. Robert A. Moore of Brooklyn, N.Y. I appear before 
you in my capacity as a member of the board of directors of the National 
Society for Medical Research and as chairman of the committee of that board 
on Federal legislation. In Brooklyn, I am president and dean of the Down- 
state Medical Center, State University of New York. 
The National Society for Medical Research was organized in 1946 by Dr. 
Anton J. Carlson, one of America’s most distinguished physiologists and medical 
educators. The current president is Dr. Hiram Essex, a retired member of the 
Mayo Clinic and Foundation in Rochester, Minn. The society has both material 
and moral support from most of the national and many of the regional 
and local scientific societies of the Nation. The objective of the society is to 
keep the public informed on the needs of biological and medical education and 
research, particularly in relation to the use of animals in teaching and research. 
I am grateful to you, Mr. Roberts, and to the members of the subcommittee for 
the opportunity to present to you the views of the scientific community of the 
country on the legislation under consideration. 
At the outset let me emphasize that we who are or have been engaged in 
scientific research are not in opposition to the stated objectives of H.R. 1937 
and 3556 as given in the preamble — that experimental animals shall be spared 
avoidable pain, stress, discomfort, and fear, shall be used only when no alterna- 
tive procedure is available, shall be used in smallest numbers possible, and 
shall be comfortably housed, well fed, and humanely treated. No scientist 
worthy of the name would violate any of these objectives because he knows 
that the results of his experiments would be questionable if he did. There may 
be some differences of opinion ourselves and the proponents of these bills on 
what constitute adequate housing, good feeding, and humane treatment. 
To emphasize this point may I call your attention to a statement on the 
“Principles of Laboratory Animal Care” prepared by the society in collaboration 
with many scientific societies. I shall not take your time, Mr. Chairman, to 
read this but request your permission to place it in the record, where all may 
see that we, as others, stand for proper and humane care of experimental 
animals. 
On the other hand, let me emphasize equally strongly that we do not accept 
there is gross mistreatment of animals in the scientific laboratories of this coun- 
try. We will not and cannot deny that in a few places there is carelessness 
or thoughtlessness in these matters. This brings me to the first point I wish 
to make — that the proposed legislation will not have the desired effect. 
Both H.R. 1937 and H.R. 3556 interdict the granting of funds by the Federal 
Government or the use of funds in the Federal establishment unless the institu- 
tion has been licensed and the programs of the individual scientists approved. 
I submit, gentlemen, that it is the institutions of the Government and of those 
receiving Federal grants which have the best animal care and follow the best 
humane techniques. This legislation would penalize the good to catch the bad, 
except the bad would not get caught. 
The second point I wish to make concerns the licensing of individual experi- 
ments. I cite from item (g) of section 4 of H.R. 1937 — “No experiment or test 
on living animals shall be undertaken or performed unless a project plan is on 
file in such form as the Secretary may prescribe, describing the nature and 
purposes of the project and the procedures to be employed with respect to 
living animals.” This requirement assumes that an investigator can outline 
in advance exactly what he is going to do and how he is going to do it. This 
is rarely the case. At least in the early stages of most research there is a 
period of trial and error, until the best procedure is developed. Under both 
bills as now written there could be interminable delays while a new plan 
is being filed. 
A subsidiary second point concerns when the scientist could proceed with his 
or her studies. Section 9 of H.R. 3556 provides that : “No use of animals shall 
be undertaken by any holder of a certificate of compliance with this act until a 
project plan has been filed with the Agency of Laboratory Animal Control in 
such form as the Commissioner shall prescribe — and the project plan has been 
approved by the Commissioner.” This would make for further delay and I 
