Dear Editor,

Contrary to assertions in “Law Finally Cages Animal-Rights Guerillas,” published on Oct. 13, animal experimentation is neither well regulated nor humane. The federal law governing the use of animals in laboratories applies to less than 5 percent of the animals used in experimentation. Mice and rats, who suffer as much as larger mammals, represent more than 100 million of the total animals used in experiments in the United States, yet they receive absolutely no protections under the Animal Welfare Act.

For the roughly one million animals that are covered, the existing laws provide only minimal husbandry and veterinary care standards — clean food, potable water and prompt veterinary care — and are fully revocable with negligible justification. A September 2005 audit concluded that experimenters are failing to extend even these basic considerations to the animals in their care. Experimenters may have to fill out forms, but there is no law that protects animals from redundant, painful or pointless studies.

No enterprise that allows thinking, feeling animals to be imprisoned, poisoned, mutilated and killed is ethical or “humane” by any stretch of the imagination. Please visit www.stopanimaltests.com for more information.

— Chelsea Rhodes
Laboratory Investigations Department, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals