(Circulation. 2000;102:e9032.)
© 2000 American Heart Association, Inc.
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US Department of Agriculture and Animal Rights Group Settle Suit Over Mice, Rats, and Birds; Congress May Intervene
In a move that drew considerable criticism from the research community, the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) agreed to settle a suit brought by the Alternatives Research and Development Foundation (ARDF), which is the research arm of the Anti-Vivisection Society; In Vitro International; and various individuals. Both sides agreed to dismiss the suit as long as the USDA agrees to initiate rulemaking on the regulation of the welfare of birds, rats, and mice within a reasonable amount of time. Currently, those animals are excluded from coverage of the USDA’s animal welfare act.
As part of the settlement, the federal agency also agreed to keep the ARDF informed of its progress in the rulemaking process and to give the group a copy of its proposed rules at the same time they are published in the Federal Register. The USDA also agreed to pay the $18 000 in attorneys’ fees that the ARDF had accumulated in its suit.
In a countermeasure, the US House and Senate conferees meeting to hammer out an agriculture appropriations bill included an amendment in the bill that would prohibit the USDA from issuing the proposed rules and would require notice of proposed rulemaking or changing the definition of an animal.
The suit by the ARDF was filed on March 9, 1998 and claimed that
excluding rats, mice, and birds from the requirements of the Animal
Welfare Act was both arbitrary and capricious. More than 90% of such
animals—the backbone of laboratory research—are covered by voluntary
accreditation programs