Leading experts on the management of laboratory animals are seeking to revise a national regulation to improve the protection and management of test animals, according to a report by China Daily.
According to Sun Deming, chairman of the Welfare and Ethics Committee of the Chinese Association for Laboratory Animal Sciences (CALAS), some of the changes included in the draft concern the Regulation on the Management of Laboratory Animals.
It is unclear, however, when the new regulations to be overseen by the Ministry of Science and Technology will be implemented.
The Regulation on the Management of Laboratory Animals has been subject to a number of revisions in the past. Its main aim is to ensure that animals used for experiments meet the demands of scientific research. A number of articles, on the other hand, aim to ensure that the animals' welfare are taken care of.
In 1998, other guidelines for the management of laboratory animals were introduced. These include experimenting on euthanized animals as long as results are not affected.
Despite these regulations, China is still behind its foreign counterparts in promoting the welfare of laboratory animals, said Yue Bingfei, director of the experimental animals division at the National Institutes for Food and Drug Control.
Violations are difficult to prevent, and opportunities for international exchanges among Chinese scientists are hard to come by. In addition, the development of biomedicine has increased the use of laboratory animals in China, which already uses 20 million animals for tests every year.
"China should accelerate improvements to the legislation and management systems to regulate and maintain the interests of researches and laboratory animals, and promote the sustainable development of animal welfare," said Sun in an interview with China Daily.
On the bright side, most of the institutions certified in China adhere to the current national regulations, according to Sun. Still, mere laws and regulations without enough bite are not enough to safeguard the welfare of laboratory animals.
"They are totally defenseless in front of man," Sun said. "However, a normal person with a shred of decency would never abuse them."