Barbara Stagno in Science:
A recent essay in The Scientist by Americans for Medical Progress (AMP) claims that public mistrust of animal research is driven primarily by misunderstanding, not by substantive concerns. AMP attributes this confusion to the way animal advocates distort and present official records, arguing that improved communication from the industry would resolve the distrust. However, framing the issue as merely a communication challenge rather than a systemic problem fundamentally misrepresents the issue. The problem is not poor communication by researchers, but systemic lack of transparency and accountability in animal labs. You cannot whitewash an industry that is fraught with infractions that clearly document negligence and abuse of animals in labs.
Industry defenders claim that animal research is “heavily regulated.” In reality, oversight is largely dependent on self-policing. The cornerstone of federal oversight is built on voluntary compliance through an “assurance” document submitted by the laboratory. Once this is approved, the federal oversight agency “grants considerable authority to institutions for self-regulation.” Compounding this problem, inspections by federal authorities are infrequent, often occurring only once every few years and are typically announced in advance.
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