Animal Law News

Animal Law News

Scientific Knowledge and Technology, Animal Experimentation, and Pharmaceutical Development

Human discovery of pharmacologically active substances is arguably the oldest of the biomedical sciences with origins >3500 years ago. Since ancient times, four major transformations have dramatically impacted pharmaceutical development, each driven by advances in scientific knowledge, technology, and/or regulation: (1) anesthesia, analgesia, and antisepsis; (2) medicinal chemistry; (3) regulatory toxicology; and (4) targeted drug discovery.

Animal experimentation in pharmaceutical development is a modern phenomenon dating from the 20th century and...more >>

Assessment of animal welfare in agricultural settings

It is now widely acknowledged that animal welfare is very complex: it can be affected by many factors and it embraces many components such as physical and mental health. Welfare assessment protocols allowing the assessment of all these components are necessary to describe precisely the different risks for welfare in farm animals.

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People aren't the only species who waste a lot of breath arguing

There are two major societal developments that have assisted in furthering the development of animal welfare standards and animal protections.

Firstly, there is science which gives us insights to the lives of animals, frequently revealing that although there are many differences including form, language and societal structure - there are also significant similarities.

The second major influence is telecommunications. Thanks to technology, scientific discoveries are communicated to the public masses with significantly greater...more >>

China to kill its ivory trade by year’s end

Global ivory trade has been banned by international regulators since 1989, but in the meantime China has been a nexus of both legal—and illegal—ivory trading. Demand has been met largely by the large-scale poaching of African elephants, which many say has significantly contributed to the animals’ population decline.

In an applaudable move, albeit tempered by the additional comment that "it's about time", the Chinese government has pledged to close down its domestic ivory market for good by the end of 2017.

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How drones could become a farmer’s best friend

Not everyone is a fan of drones. The obvious concern and potential legal argument is that it constitutes an invasion of privacy. But politics, public interest and protection of industry suggests there is another side to the argument, pointing out the benefits associated with using drones.

For example, billions of gallons of freshwater are used every day to irrigate crops, but a lot of it gets wasted on already ripe or dying plants. Now, researchers have used images captured by an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV)—i.e., a drone—to map barley fields and...more >>

Can escaped pets rescue endangered species?

The descendants of escaped exotic pets could save endangered species. That’s what a team of scientists argues in a new paper, which proposes replenishing decimated populations of animals with their kin from the pet trade. One potential target is the yellow-crested cockatoo, one of the world's most prized household birds whose wild numbers are plummeting.

As with most proposals, there are pros and cons to the argument. You can read more about at ...more >>

The ethics of using animal stem cells

Stem cell research is highly debated in the field of bioethics. Is there a difference between using the stem cells of people in contrast using the stem cells of animals?

There is a paper addressing an alleged "gap in the literature about the ethics of using animal stem cells for human benefit".

You can read it at ...more >>

Role of the Veterinarian in Public Health/One Health

Most private veterinary practitioners contribute to public health during routine practice. Both large and small animal practitioners become skilled diagnosticians for acute and chronic diseases of animals that may affect the owners and their families and the surrounding communities. Specific examples of public health activities include performing routine health examinations, maintaining immunization regimens, implementing parasite control programs, advising on the risks of animal contact for immunocompromised individuals, facilitating the use of guide and service dogs for people with...more >>

“Animals Across the Disciplines.”

The Animals & Society Institute (and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign invites applications for the first annual Human-Animal Studies Summer Institute program for advanced graduate students and early career scholars pursuing research in Human-Animal Studies. The theme of the inaugural institute will be: “Animals Across the Disciplines.”

This...more >>

Authorization of Animal Experiments Is Based on Confidence Rather than Evidence of Scientific Rigor

The "reproducibility crisis" in biomedical research has led to questions about the scientific rigor in animal research, and thus the ethical justification of animal experiments. In research publishing in the Open Access journals PLOS Biology and PLOS ONE on December 2nd, 2016, researchers from the University of Bern have assessed scientific rigor in animal experimentation in Switzerland. The study, commissioned by the Swiss Federal Food Safety and Veterinary Office (FSVO), found widespread deficiencies in the reporting of experimental methodology.

Animal experiments are...more >>