Animal Welfare Information Center Newsletter, Winter 1994/1995, Vol. 5 No. 4
The House Armed Services Committee (HASC) held an oversight
hearing on the military's animal research programs in April 1992.
As a result of that hearing, the HASC requested that the
Department of Defense (DoD) appoint bona fide animal
protectionists to military IACUCs (12). The HASC held a follow-up hearing in April 1994, in which the military provided no
evidence of having implemented this recommendation. In fact, the
DoD Inspector General found that over one-third of the DoD
facilities in question had non-affiliated members (NAMs) who were
actually affiliated with the institutions, and nearly another
third had "definite ties to the research industry" (1).
The HASC is considering its options on this matter. In the
meantime, Congressman Robert Torricelli (D-9th-NJ) introduced a
bill in the House of Representatives on August 16, 1994, that
would legally mandate that military IACUCs include local animal
protectionists. The bill, the Animal Experimentation Right to
Know Act, is expected to be reintroduced in 1995.
Although Congress is currently limiting its concerns about IACUCs
to the military, we think this may change if the broader
scientific community continues to exclude animal protectionists
from IACUCs.
This article appeared in the Animal Welfare Information Center
Newsletter, Volume 5, Number 4, Winter 1994/1995
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