美国农业部主导的实验动物管理政策演变和启示

U.S.federal law:animal welfare act and animal welfare regulations and enlightenment

美国农业部《动物福利法》监管大中型动物如猴犬猫兔、海洋哺乳动物等的生产运输交易和使用等诸多商贸过程及其用于医学实验或非医学测试。该法规不管辖常用的实验室大鼠和小鼠,因而从动物类型上或从条例细则上不能全覆盖也不适合生物医学研究机构的实验动物管理。美国卫生署和NIH的动物政策管辖全美生物医学研究机构的脊椎类动物实验使用,被国际生物医学研究机构普遍借鉴采纳。美国的这两套动物法规管理体系,目的职能明显不同,既平行,又交叉和相互补充。本文介绍其主要沿革,侧重生物医学研究机构的实验动物使用与管理委员会组成和职能演变,期望对我国实验动物的使用和管理有所启示。

The United States Department of Agriculture is charged with drawing up the Animal Welfare Act and Animal Welfare Regulations,the only federal laws that regulate the treatment of animals in research,teaching,testing,and exhibition and include animal facilities,vehicles,equipment,or other sites used or intended for use in business.These federal laws govern large and medium⁃sized animals,such as monkeys,dogs,cats,and rabbits,and include marine mammals,but do not regulate the use of rats and mice,which are commonly used in biomedical laboratories in universities and institutes in the United States.Therefore,the laws do not fully govern the management of laboratory animals in biomedical research institutions.By contrast,the policy on laboratory animal care and use supervised by the United States National Institutes of Health(NIH)and Public Health Service(PHS)fully governs the use of all vertebrate animal species—including laboratory rats and mice—used in biomedical research.This paper gives a brief overview of historical events and information related to United States Animal Welfare Act and Animal Welfare Regulations.It is expected that this research could offer some enlightenment might offer guide the use and management of laboratory animals in China.