Editing Animal welfare (section)

== Legislation ==

===European Union===

The [[European Commission]]'s activities in this area start with the recognition that animals are sentient beings.<ref name=EUAHW>{{cite web|url=http://ec.europa.eu/food/animal/welfare/index_en.htm|title=EUROPA – Animal Health & Welfare – References|access-date=14 June 2015|archive-date=16 April 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150416024004/http://ec.europa.eu/food/animal/welfare/index_en.htm|url-status=live}}</ref> The general aim is to ensure that animals do not endure avoidable pain or suffering, and obliges the owner/keeper of animals to respect minimum welfare requirements.<ref name=EUAHW /> [[European Union]] legislation regarding farm animal welfare is regularly re-drafted according to science-based evidence and cultural views.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.esdaw.eu/animal-welfare.html|archive-url=http://arquivo.pt/wayback/20141125002946/http://www.esdaw.eu/animal-welfare.html|archive-date=25 November 2014|title=Animal Welfare|work=ESDAW|access-date=14 June 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://eurogroupforanimals.org/what-we-do/category/eu-animal-welfare/list-of-eu-laws-on-animal-welfare |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120608131520/http://eurogroupforanimals.org/what-we-do/category/eu-animal-welfare/list-of-eu-laws-on-animal-welfare |archive-date=8 June 2012 |title=EU & Animal Welfare – What We Do |author=Glue |access-date=14 June 2015 }}</ref> For example, in 2009, legislation was passed which aimed to reduce animal suffering during slaughter<ref name="COUNCIL REGULATION on the protection of animals at the time of killing">{{cite web |url=http://ec.europa.eu/food/animal/welfare/slaughter/regulation_1099_2009_en.pdf |title=European Commission |publisher=Official Journal of the European Union |date=18 November 2009 |access-date=30 June 2011 |archive-date=25 January 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120125231616/http://ec.europa.eu/food/animal/welfare/slaughter/regulation_1099_2009_en.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> and on 1 January 2012, the [[European Union Council Directive 1999/74/EC]] came into act, which means that conventional battery cages for laying hens are now banned across the Union.

====United Kingdom====

The [[Animal Welfare Act 2006]]<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2006/45/contents|title=Animal welfare act 2006|publisher=The National Archive|year=2006|access-date=22 October 2013|archive-date=11 February 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210211233829/https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2006/45/contents|url-status=live}}</ref> makes owners and keepers responsible for ensuring that the welfare needs of their animals are met. These include the need: for a suitable environment (place to live), for a suitable diet, to exhibit normal behavior patterns, to be housed with, or apart from, other animals (if applicable), and to be protected from pain, injury, suffering and disease.
Anyone who is cruel to an animal, or does not provide for its welfare needs, may be banned from owning animals, fined up to £20,000 and/or sent to prison for a maximum of six months.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.gov.uk/animal-welfare#legislation|title=Animal welfare|work=Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs|year=2013|access-date=22 October 2013|archive-date=23 October 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131023061413/https://www.gov.uk/animal-welfare#legislation|url-status=live}}</ref>

In the UK, the welfare of research animals being used for "regulated procedures" was historically protected by the [[Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986]] (ASPA) which is administrated by the [[Home Office]]. The Act defines "regulated procedures" as animal experiments that could potentially cause "pain, suffering, distress or lasting harm" to "protected animals". Initially, "protected animals" encompassed all living [[vertebrate]]s other than humans, but, in 1993, an [[amendment]] added a single invertebrate species, the [[common octopus]].<ref name="Octopus_ Amendment">{{cite web | url=http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/1993/2103/made | title=The Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act(Amendment) Order 1993 | date=23 August 1993 | access-date=22 February 2013 | archive-date=4 November 2013 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131104213218/http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/1993/2103/made | url-status=live }}</ref>

[[Primate]]s, [[cat]]s, [[dog]]s, and [[horse]]s have additional protection over other vertebrates under the Act. Revised legislation came into force in January 2013. This has been expanded to protect "...all living vertebrates, other than man, and any living [[cephalopod]]. Fish and amphibia are protected once they can feed independently and cephalopods at the point when they hatch. Embryonic and foetal forms of mammals, birds and reptiles are protected during the last third of their gestation or incubation period." The definition of regulated procedures was also expanded: ''"A procedure is regulated if it is carried out on a protected animal and may cause that animal a level of pain, suffering, distress or lasting harm equivalent to, or higher than, that caused by inserting a hypodermic needle according to good veterinary practice."'' It also includes modifying the genes of a protected animal if this causes the animal pain, suffering, distress, or lasting harm. The ASPA also considers other issues such as [[Laboratory animal sources|animal sources]], housing conditions, identification methods, and the humane killing of animals.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/116843/aspa-draft-guidance.pdf|title=Draft guidance on the operation of the Animals 1 (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 (as amended)|publisher=Home Office (UK)|year=2013|access-date=18 July 2013|archive-date=17 October 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131017143743/https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/116843/aspa-draft-guidance.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref>

Those applying for a license must explain why such research cannot be done through non-animal methods. The project must also pass an ethical review panel which aims to decide if the potential benefits outweigh any suffering for the animals involved.

===United States===

In the United States, a federal law called the [[Humane Slaughter Act]] was designed to decrease suffering of livestock during slaughter.<ref name="Humane Methods of Livestock Slaughter">{{cite web|url=http://uscode.house.gov/download/pls/07C48.txt |title=United States Code |publisher=Office of the Law Revision Counsel |date=7 January 2011 |access-date=30 June 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110708233259/http://uscode.house.gov/download/pls/07C48.txt |archive-date=8 July 2011 }}</ref>

The Georgia Animal Protection Act of 1986 was a state law enacted in response to the inhumane treatment of [[companion animals]] by a [[pet store]] chain in [[Atlanta]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://agr.georgia.gov/animalprotection.aspx |title=Animal Protection –Ga Dept of Agriculture |publisher=Agr.georgia.gov |access-date=16 October 2012 |archive-date=21 October 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121021200712/http://agr.georgia.gov/animalprotection.aspx }}</ref> The Act provided for the licensing and regulation of pet shops, stables, kennels, and animal shelters, and established, for the first time, minimum standards of care. Additional provisions, called the Humane Euthanasia Act, were added in 1990,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.animallawcoalition.com/gas-chambers/law/289 |title=Georgia Humane {{sic|hide=y|nolink=y|reason=spelling error in source|Euthansia}} Act, O.C.G.A. §4-11-5.1 |publisher=Animal Law Coalition |access-date=16 October 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121110083040/http://www.animallawcoalition.com/gas-chambers/law/289 |archive-date=10 November 2012}}</ref> and then further expanded and strengthened with the Animal Protection Act of 2000.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.animallaw.info/statutes/stusgacodeann4_11_1_17.htm |title=Georgia Animal Protection Act |publisher=Animallaw.info |access-date=16 October 2012 |archive-date=13 November 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121113080659/http://www.animallaw.info/statutes/stusgacodeann4_11_1_17.htm |url-status=live }}</ref>

In 2002, voters passed (by a margin of 55% for and 45% against) Amendment 10 to the Florida Constitution banning the confinement of pregnant pigs in gestation crates.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.porknet.com/archive/110702.html#96977 |title=PorkNet Newsletter |publisher=MetaFarms.com, Inc |date=7 November 2002 |access-date=3 July 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060314005853/http://www.porknet.com/archive/110702.html |archive-date=14 March 2006 }}</ref> In 2006, Arizona voters passed [[Proposition 204]] with 62% support; the legislation prohibits the confinement of calves in veal crates and breeding sows in gestation crates. In 2007, the [[Governor of Oregon]] signed legislation prohibiting the confinement of pigs in gestation crates<ref>{{cite news | url=http://www.brownfieldnetwork.com/gestalt/go.cfm?objectid=96AD5AA7-BEEA-38F9-4397078DB6063307 | title= Back door activists gain momentum | publisher=Learfield Communications, Inc. | date=5 July 2007 | access-date=3 July 2008}}{{Dead link|date=September 2010|bot=H3llBot}}</ref> and in 2008, the [[Governor of Colorado]] signed legislation that phased out both gestation crates and veal crates.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.reuters.com/article/pressRelease/idUS239162+14-May-2008+BW20080514 | title=Farm Sanctuary Applauds Colorado for Passing Legislation Phasing out Veal and Gestation Crates | website=Reuters | date=14 May 2008 | access-date=3 July 2008 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091111222038/http://www.reuters.com/article/pressRelease/idUS239162+14-May-2008+BW20080514 | archive-date=11 November 2009 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news | url=http://www.fass.org/page.asp?pageID=312 | title= Farm Animal Welfare Measure Becomes Law | publisher=Federation of Animal Science Societies (FASS) | date=14 May 2008 | access-date=3 July 2008| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20080615215410/http://www.fass.org/page.asp?pageID=312| archive-date= 15 June 2008 | url-status= live}}</ref> Also during 2008, California passed [[California Proposition 2 (2008)|Proposition 2]], known as the "Prevention of Farm Animal Cruelty Act", which orders new space requirements for farm animals starting in 2015.

[[File:Lab animal care.jpg|alt=|thumb|The use of animals in laboratories remains controversial. Animal welfare advocates push for enforced standards to ensure the health and safety of those animals used for tests.]]
In the US, every institution that uses vertebrate animals for federally funded laboratory research must have an [[Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee]] (IACUC).<ref>{{cite web |url=http://speakingofresearch.com/facts/research-regulation/ |title=Research Regulations |access-date=22 October 2012 |date=10 April 2010 |archive-date=30 November 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121130230356/http://speakingofresearch.com/facts/research-regulation/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Each local IACUC reviews research protocols and conducts evaluations of the institution's animal care and use which includes the results of inspections of facilities that are required by law. The IACUC committee must assess the steps taken to "enhance animal well-being" before research can take place. This includes research on farm animals.<ref name="ReferenceA">ftp://ftp.grants.nih.gov/IACUC/GuideBook.pdf{{Dead link|date=September 2012}}</ref>

According to the [[National Institutes of Health]] Office of Laboratory Animal Welfare, researchers must try to minimize distress in animals whenever possible: "Animals used in research and testing may experience pain from induced diseases, procedures, and toxicity. The Public Health Service (PHS) Policy and Animal Welfare Regulations (AWRs) state that procedures that cause more than momentary or slight pain or distress should be performed with appropriate sedation, analgesia, or anesthesia.<ref name="ReferenceA"/>

However, research and testing studies sometimes involve pain that cannot be relieved with such agents because they would interfere with the scientific objectives of the study. Accordingly, federal regulations require that IACUCs determine that discomfort to animals will be limited to that which is unavoidable for the conduct of scientifically valuable research, and that unrelieved pain and distress will only continue for the duration necessary to accomplish the scientific objectives. The PHS Policy and AWRs further state that animals that would otherwise suffer severe or chronic pain and distress that cannot be relieved should be painlessly killed at the end of the procedure, or if appropriate, during the procedure."<ref name="ReferenceA"/>

The National Research Council's Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals also serves as a guide to improve welfare for animals used in research in the US.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://awic.nal.usda.gov/research-animals |title=Research Animals &#124; Animal Welfare Information Center |publisher=Awic.nal.usda.gov |date=20 November 1985 |access-date=16 October 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121017062147/http://awic.nal.usda.gov/research-animals |archive-date=17 October 2012 }}</ref> The Federation of Animal Science Societies' Guide for the Care and Use of Agricultural Animals in Research and Teaching is a resource addressing welfare concerns in farm animal research.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.fass.org/docs/agguide3rd/Ag_Guide_3rd_ed.pdf |title=AGGuideCovers2010.indd |access-date=16 October 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121212013248/http://www.fass.org/docs/agguide3rd/Ag_Guide_3rd_ed.pdf |archive-date=12 December 2012 }}</ref> Laboratory animals in the US are also protected under the [[Animal Welfare Act of 1966|Animal Welfare Act]]. The [[United States Department of Agriculture]] Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) enforces the Animal Welfare Act. APHIS and USDA help the animal welfare act by creating and updating new rules in the AWA regulations, licensing and checking in facilities, doing investigations for potential violations, and making sure everyone stays in line with the law.APHIS inspects animal research facilities regularly and reports are published online.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://acissearch.aphis.usda.gov/LPASearch/faces/CustomerSearch.jspx |title=Usda – Aphis – Animal Care – Search |access-date=21 February 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130521023231/http://acissearch.aphis.usda.gov/LPASearch/faces/CustomerSearch.jspx |archive-date=21 May 2013 }}</ref>

According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), the total number of animals used in the U.S. in 2005 was almost 1.2 million,<ref name=USDA2006>{{cite web|url=http://www.aphis.usda.gov/animal_welfare/downloads/awreports/awreport2005.pdf |title=2005 Report on Enforcement of the Animal Welfare Act |publisher=U.S. Department of Agriculture |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130301102117/http://www.aphis.usda.gov/animal_welfare/downloads/awreports/awreport2005.pdf |archive-date=1 March 2013 }}</ref> but this does not include rats, mice, and birds which are not covered by welfare legislation but make up approximately 90% of research animals.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20080308163109/http://www.nabr.org/pdf/orange.pdf The humane care and treatment of laboratory animals]. ''National Association of Biomedical Research''</ref><ref name=Trull>{{cite journal |last1=Trull |first1=F. L. |title=More Regulation of Rodents |journal=Science |volume=284 |page=1463 |year=1999 |doi=10.1126/science.284.5419.1463 |issue=5419|pmid=10383321 |bibcode = 1999Sci...284.1463T |s2cid=10122407 }}</ref>