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ANIMAL WELFARE ACT

Prior to the passing of the Animal Welfare Act, or AWA, there were no federal laws regulating the treatment of animals in scientific research labs, and many experiments were performed on animals that would be considered cruel and inhumane by today’s standards. Many of the scientists conducting research said that the testing was necessary to determine the safety of products for humans (such as cosmetics,

foods, and medicines), but the ways that the experiments were conducted were often unnecessarily brutal and painful for the animals. Passed in 1966, the AWA is the only federal law in the United States that regulates animal treatment in the area of research. When the AWA was originally created, many research facilities were stealing pets and using them for laboratory tests. Pet owners began to demand a law that would hold people responsible for committing pet theft. Originally, the law specified only how animals could be obtained and how they were required to be cared for at the lab facility—there was no regulation on the experiments that researchers could and could not perform on animals. While the law was originally created to protect laboratory only research animals, today it also protects the rights of animals during exhibitions, sale, and transport. It specifies the standards of care that must be upheld for animals in research labs and other settings, including food, exercise, and the types of experiments that may be performed. There are other animal welfare regulations that are specific for certain species and in certain situations, but those laws refer to the AWA as the gold standard for how animals are to be treated. This rule has been expanded over time to meet the needs of animals due to lobbyists fighting for animal rights. It has been revised and amended many times, with the most recent amendments added in 2013. Today, the law covers many facets of animal well-being, including regulations and restrictions on fighting, protection for domestic pets, regulations for treatment of farm animals, and restrictions on the experiments that can be performed on lab animals.

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