Knowledge is more than equivalent to force.
---Samuel Johnson
It is not a free country for animals in laboratories, but it
is a comparatively free one for you. One such freedom is
provided by the U.S. Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), passed
in 1966. The FOIA entitles you to information on how the
government is spending your tax dollars. FOIA allows you access
to information on federally funded animal research projects and
to documents of various departments of the federal government,
including the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Food and Drug
Administration, and Public Health Service. FOIA can provide you
with such information as the amount of money spent yearly on a
specific project, the research methods used, and internal
correspondence related to the project.
Check first to see if you can obtain some of the information
you want directly from government web sites; documents that
receive frequent FOIA requests are increasingly available
online. For example, the FOIA web site maintained by the USDA's
Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service
(foia.aphis.usda.gov) provides comprehensive lists of
registered research facilities and licensed animal dealers,
Animal Welfare Act inspection reports, and annual USDA reports
from universities and other research facilities.
The Internet has also made requesting printed FOIA documents
much easier. The FOIA Help Center will give you a comprehensive
contact list, an automatic FOIA request generator, and plenty
of other useful information.
Be aware that you may be charged a fee for searching and
copying records. However, the fees are waived if you are able
to show that the requested information would benefit the public
and that your request is not primarily for commercial gain.
Both of these criteria typically are met by animal
activists.
