In response to a lawsuit filed in January by The Humane Society of the United States, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) will again be posting annual reports from registered animal research facilities on its web site. APHIS, which had earlier pulled the online documents at the request of the research facilities, will resume the postings on Tuesday, May 10, in a clear victory for animal protectionists.
The Department of Justice advised APHIS to resume the annual report postings after reviewing the merits of the HSUS lawsuit, which was filed in U.S. District Court in the District of Columbia. Under the Electronic FOIA Amendment of 1996, the government must make available to the public agency information that has been released to any person and which an agency determines is likely to be requested again. APHIS determined that the annual reports are regularly requested documents.
“The government’s decision confirms what we already knew: These are important documents that the public has a right to review,” Kathleen Conlee, director of program management for The HSUS’s Animal Research Issues. “These reports play a vital role in determining whether the USDA, which enforces the minimal standards of the Animal Welfare Act, is doing its job effectively. The reports are also crucial to our work to promote development of alternatives to painful and distressful research procedures. We look forward to now moving ahead with this work.”
The HSUS filed its federal lawsuit after waiting for years for the USDA to fulfill four separate Freedom of Information Act requests. The first request was filed in 2001, and it asked for the 1999 annual reports from all registered animal research facilities. In 2002, The HSUS requested a list of all USDA-registered research facilities that house and/or conduct research on any ape species for the years 2000 to the present, and information concerning the number of ape species held at each facility. The third request, prompted by a complaint from a member of the public, was filed in 2003 for documents of a specific research institution. The fourth request, filed in 2004, asked for the annual reports from 2000 to the present.
The USDA provided only 24 of the 1,400 documents requested in 2001 (and didn’t provide them until 32 months later), and never provided any documents responsive to the 2002, 2003, or 2004 FOIA requests.
APHIS’ decision to post the annual reports does not settle The HSUS’s lawsuit against the USDA. There are still unresolved issues between the agency and The HSUS, notably the large number of redacted pages in the annual reports so far provided. The HSUS is also waiting on annual reports that the agency must still vet with animal research facilities before releasing.
Why The Records Are Important
Facilities conducting animal research regulated by the USDA must complete an annual report on their work and submit this information to the agency. The reports show the numbers of each species used in research, testing, and teaching per relevant pain and distress category. There are three categories: procedures that did not involve any pain or distress; those in which animals received anesthetic, analgesic or tranquilizing drugs; and those when animals did not receive such relief. Any use of animals that involved unalleviated pain and/or distress must be accompanied by an explanation of the procedure(s) and the basis for withholding pain-relieving medications.
Because animal research facilities are largely publicly funded, they should be held accountable to the people who support their work, and annual reports are one way for taxpayers to monitor this research. But more than that, these annual reports allow The HSUS and other animal protection groups to monitor enforcement of the Animal Welfare Act by the USDA, in addition to procedures that cause unalleviated pain and/or distress.
“The availability of this quantified information is essential to our work to promote development of alternatives to these painful and distressful procedures,” says The HSUS’s Conlee. “When this information is not publicly available, it also raises questions about whether researchers recognize these conditions.”
Until recent years, APHIS had posted annual reports on its web site, withholding confidential business information and other material exempt under FOIA. However, APHIS subsequently halted this practice, a move which prompted The HSUS to challenge the removal of documents on the use of animals in research.
For the complete background on this issue, and on our original lawsuit, read our January 27 story, HSUS Files Suit Against USDA over FOIA Delays.
