Editing Animal welfare (section)

===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.