The Animal Welfare Act (AWA) spells out the minimum standards of care and treatment required for certain animals used in research, bred for commercial sale, transported commercially, or exhibited to the public. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is the agency responsible for establishing these minimum standards of care and enforcing them through inspections.
Originally enacted in 1966, the AWA initially regulated only the acquisition and handling of animals by dealers. It was amended in 1970 to include the care of animals in research institutions. However, birds, rats, and mice bred for research were excluded from regulatory oversight. Subsequently, an amendment was passed as part of the 2002 Farm Bill (the USDA later issued the regulations in 2004) to explicitly exclude virtually all birds, rats, and mice bred for research. These species account for approximately 85% of all animals used in laboratories.
The Animal Welfare Act also requires that any institution conducting research on USDA-regulated species have an Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC), which oversees and provides final approval of experiments. This committee must ensure that any pain and distress caused by experiments be minimized, and that investigators consider any alternatives that are available to them (including non-animal alternatives).
Standards regarding amount of space, feeding, bedding, exercise, and transportation are written according to species. The standards are broken into three subsections under Part 3 of the USDA regulations, namely Facilities and Operating Standards, Animal Health and Husbandry Standards, and Transportation Standards.
Click here to view all the Animal Welfare Act regulations.
