For the first time, articles relating to animal welfare will be
added to China's animal protection laws and regulations, it was
recently revealed at an international animal welfare and
legislation seminar held in Beijing. The revised Laboratory Animal
Management Regulation, passed to experts last week for
recommendations, includes two key elements: animal safety and
animal welfare.
The existing Laboratory Animal Management Regulation, issued more
than 10 years ago, contains no reference to animal welfare, said He
Zhengming, a researcher and deputy secretary-general of the China
Laboratory Animal Society, the organization in charge of drafting
the revised "animal welfare" regulation.
"In the past, the regulations only called on people to care about
animals with no mention of ill-treatment," said He. Ten years ago,
internationally published domestic research papers only required
laboratory animal inspection certificates of animals used for
research purposes to be attached. However, with added emphasis
being place on the protection of animals, certificates of approval
from animal ethics committees are required, in addition to the
certificates of inspection, when research papers are published.
He
said the addition of animal welfare provisions in the Laboratory
Animal Management Regulation is of crucial importance, otherwise
international exchanges would be limited in the future.
Many countries have proposed laws on animal welfare, such as
Australia and more than 10 countries in the European Union, said
He. Animal welfare legislation has become an international
trend.
It
is reported that the animal welfare section to be added to the
Laboratory Animal Management Regulation will require: workers
engaged in laboratory research to take care for, and not hurt nor
ill-treat animals in any way; research to be conducted in
compliance with scientific principles; and animals to be treated as
humanely as possible after the completion of laboratory tests.
(china.org.cn translated by Li Jingrong on November 21, 2002)