LIFE-AFFIRMING PRINCIPLES FOR EXPERIMENTATION WITH ANIMALS Preamble All life has value and deserves respect. Each animal is, like us, a sentient creature with its own life spark. Today all practicing scientists accept that ethical consideration for animals must precede every piece of biological and psychological research. However, present guidelines largely focus on preventing pain and do not consider the intrinsic worth of an animal's life. This document moves forward by laying out clear principles for ethical animal experimentation in which the value of a unique animal life is recognised. In so doing, it asserts the right of each animal to life and seeks to protect the lives of the fellow creatures with whom we share this planet. Purpose The purpose of these pages is to allow each scientist to succinctly but strongly declare - by subscribing to these Life-Affirming Principles and referring to them in each item of scientific literature they write - that their research is ethical and respects the lives of animals. In the same way as scientists now declare their research complies with the Declaration of Helsinki, which governs proper human experimentation, it is intended that this declaration will perform a similar function for research involving animals. With widespread and accumulating use, these Principles pave the way for an evolution in the institutional and community standards by which animals are treated. The Declaration of Helsinki, first proclaimed in 1964 and updated a number of times since, seeks to draw a line between what is ethical experimentation and what is not, but it does not venture far in describing the ethical regard to be accorded animals. It says the welfare of animals "must be respected", but the way in which this should be done is not made clear. The present document incorporates the principles and spirit of the Declaration of Helsinki, but widens its scope to establish ethical consideration of all experimental subjects, human and animal. In the same way as the Declaration affirms that the interest of science should never take precedence over considerations of the well-being of the subject, so too this document records that the life of an animal is of intrinsic value, over and beyond considerations of whether it suffers pain or distress. We wish to affirm that ethical research requires that the animals involved are not harmed in any way nor their lives cut short. Definition We are unable to gauge the consciousness of other sentient creatures or know their feelings. Yet a common thread - a life spark of a remarkable kind - is evident in the continuum of animal life from unicellular organisms up to human beings. Our ethical obligations to the latter are well circumscribed, but those to creatures further removed are less clear. To simplify matters and avoid dispute over where to draw the line, we declare that our closest relatives - warm-blooded vertebrates - are unquestionably in need of protection, so that 'animal' here means all warm-blooded animals. This definition allows us to unequivocally declare that experimentation on animals can in no way be ethically justified where the life of the animal is sacrificed for the sake of knowledge. Scope Ultimately, each of us bears moral responsibility for our actions - it can never be signed over to others or institutions. We therefore encourage each scientist to examine their position with respect to all living creatures - not just warm- blooded ones. If they wish to expand their sphere of concern to other living creatures, we encourage them to explicitly define the widened scope whenever these Principles are referred to. In this way, the document allows the standard for ethical animal experimentation to evolve as required. Ethics in science Scientific journals in most countries will now only publish work that has been passed by a relevant ethics committee. The system well illustrates how ethical concerns have priority over the collection of scientific knowledge. This is a welcome advance over previous times; however ethics, like science itself, is an evolving field and what was considered ethical last century, or even 20 years ago, may not pass scrutiny today - or, of course, tomorrow. A scientist's duty is to keep pace with progress in society's ethical standards. Growing numbers of scientists are seeing that allowing animal lives to be sacrificed in the name of science is not in the best interests of the animals, nor in the long-term interests of their field of investigation. Scientific knowledge, to be of lasting use to humankind, needs to rest on sound ethics. A primary ethical principle is that, despite supposed appearances to the contrary, ends do not justify means and worthwhile knowledge cannot grow from unethical actions. And so the immediate advantage used to justify present animal experimentation in fact hinders greater possibilities. Richer and more profound discoveries, we believe, will come from more compassionate approaches. Declaration of Life-Affirming Animal Experimentation Each of us, human and animal, embodies a unique consciousness that is, in its own individual way, the most valuable thing we have. This uniqueness attracts three basic rights: the right to life, freedom from physical and psychological suffering, and the liberty to express individuality. It follows that animal experimentation is not ethically sound unless the animal is neither harmed physically or psychologically nor its life cut short. Thus, as a scientist involved in the pursuit of knowledge and sensitive to its long-term consequences, I wish it known that I subscribe to the following principles. 1. I respect the Declaration of Helsinki, but see it as a starting point towards more compassionate treatment of animals in experimental science. 2. I declare that this research was undertaken without harming an animal physically or psychologically, or cutting short its life. I have done nothing to the animal that I would not do to myself. 3. That in cases where I have sought to cooperate with the animal's nature, I have given it the freedom to participate in this work without duress. I have only intervened in an animal's life when it was in its best interests. 4. Sometimes I have cited experiments in which animals were sacrificed for the sake of knowledge. Although such experiments are regretted - and I do not condone them or encourage their repetition - some cannot be ignored. That which is done cannot be undone, but I look forward to the time when such material becomes obsolete and supplanted by life-affirming work. Towards a more ethical and fruitful science The above declaration is offered as a way by which the insight and compassion of many individual scientists can help create a more ethical scientific practice. Although the intention is to exclude harmful experiments on living animals, this does not mean that all anatomy and similar biological science is ruled out. There are ethical alternatives, and modern non-invasive techniques are opening up wonderful possibilities. It simply calls for a more careful, imaginative approach in which ethical considerations remain uppermost. Compassion and empathy for animals will foster compassion and empathy for humans. With strong ethical roots, science will flourish and new horizons, now undreamt of, will appear. ----------------------- Drafted by Andrew Bell with help from members and associates of the EETA network Placed in the public domain, June 2003 andrew.bell@anu.edu.au