Animal Welfare (Openness of Information Pertaining to the Use of Animals in Research, Testing and Teaching) Amendment Bill

Animal Welfare (Openness of Information Pertaining to the Use of Animals in Research, Testing and Teaching) Amendment Bill

Member's Bill

Explanatory note

General policy statement

The Bill aims to increase the level of transparency in the use of animals in research, testing and teaching in New Zealand, by establishing a presumption of openness regarding information about the use of animals for such purposes and taking measures to meet this presumption.

At the same time, it protects the identity of those people involved in such use by not requiring the identity or addresses of applicants or Animal Ethic Committee members to be made public and by requiring information about animal experimentation to be released retrospectively, well after decisions, monitoring or manipulations have been carried out.

The Bill achieves its primary aim by requiring the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry to make available to the public information about the consideration, approval, protocols and results of manipulations of animals used in research, testing or teaching, as well as information about the suffering the manipulations cause the animals. The results of monitoring of the use of the animals and reports of independent reviews of Animal Ethics Committees are also to be made public. The Bill specifies the times in which the different categories of information are to be made available.

The bill will enable public scrutiny and monitoring of animal experimentation in New Zealand. At present the lack of publicly available information means it is almost impossible to monitor whether animal experiments being conducted in New Zealand comply with the purposes of section 6 of the Animal Welfare Act.

The Bill assumes that in a democracy, the answer as to what experiments are permitted and for what purposes should reflect informed public opinion, not just the views of the animal research community. But that is impossible unless the public is informed about what is happening and is able to participate in debate about these issues. Therefore the system cannot work properly without transparency.

The Bill will also help the stated objective of the research, testing and teaching community to reduce the number of animals used in its work by ensuring that workers are fully aware of the work of others, hence enabling them to avoid unintended repetition of manipulations. This is in line with new overseas legislation such as the draft European Union Chemicals Law which requires the results of testing on animals of chemical substances to be made available to prevent redundant testing.

The Bill addresses the issue of secrecy in a particular field of science which has shown itself to be of considerable public concern. It asserts that New Zealanders have a right to know what animal experiments are taking place in New Zealand, the purpose of specific experiments, how many animals are used in each experiment, what non-animal methods were considered as alternatives and why non-animal methods were not able to be used. This presumption applies, in particular but not exclusively, to the experiments that are conducted using taxpayers money in government funded institutes and departments around New Zealand (about 75% of the experiments in New Zealand). It assumes that taxpayers are entitled to know whether their tax dollars have been spent wisely and ethically, and whether all animal experimentation has been conducted humanely in accordance with approved rules and guidelines.

The secrecy surrounding animal experimentation and reluctance to publish detailed information about animals used in experiments has stifled public debate about animal experimentation in New Zealand, and contributed to public disquiet and suspicion about animal experimentation generally.

It is therefore anticipated that making the information specified in the Bill publicly available will enhance the quality of the discussion on the use of animals in research, testing and teaching and enable New Zealanders to participate fully in the debate about ethical, moral and animal welfare issues surrounding animal experimentation in New Zealand.

Many people involved in the manipulation of animals in New Zealand have indicated that they believe that the secrecy surrounding the manipulations is not only unnecessary but also counter-productive in achieving public acceptance and support. Any concerns they have about the safety of people involved in the approval, monitoring or manipulation of animals are addressed in the Bill by not requiring names and addresses to be made public and for all information to be made available after the fact.

It will also ensure that scientists involved in animal research are seen to be accountable to the public of New Zealand.

Contents

1Title

Part 1 — Preliminary provisions
2Commencement
3Purpose

Part 2 — Amendments to the principal Act

4Interpretation
5New Sections 118A and 118B inserted
118ARequirement to record certain information
118BOpenness of approval process and monitoring of compliance

The Parliament of New Zealand enacts as follows:

1Title

(1)This Act is the Animal Welfare (Openness of Information Pertaining to the Use of Animals in Research, Testing and Teaching) Amendment Act 2004

(2)In this Act, the Animal Welfare Act 19991 is called "the principal Act".
11999 No 142

Part 1
Preliminary provisions

2Commencement
This Act comes into force on the day after the date on which it receives the Royal assent.

3Purpose

The purpose of this Act is to ensure that information on research, testing, or teaching that involves animals is made available to the public.

Part 2
Amendments to principal Act

4Interpretation
Section 2 of the principal Act is amended by inserting, after the definition of animal welfare export certificate the following definition

"Applicant means any person who applies to an Animal Ethics Committee for the approval to manipulate animals for purposes of research, testing, or teaching".

5New section 118A and 118B inserted
The principal Act is amended by inserting, after section 118, the following sections:

"118ARequirement to record certain information

" (1) Every Animal Ethics Committee shall keep a written record of its consideration of each application it receives to manipulate animals noting in particular how the application conforms with the purposes listed in section 80 and the criteria listed in section 100.

" (2)Every person who manipulates animals in any research, testing or teaching shall assess the suffering experienced by each animal and the measures taken to alleviate this suffering and record this information.

" (3)Every person who manipulates animals in an experiment or test, under authority of an Animal Ethics Committee, shall provide that committee with:

(a)the results of any such the experiments or tests and provide an interpretation of those results, and

(b)the information required under the Animal Welfare (Records and Statistics) Regulations 1999 as they relate to the individual experiment or test (with all necessary changes made as appropriate).

"118BOpenness of approval process and monitoring of compliance

" (1) There must be a presumption of openness in relation to information about the
process of approving, monitoring and reporting on research, testing or teaching that involves the manipulation of animals.

" (2) In order to comply with the presumption of openness principle in subsection (1), the Ministry of Agriculture must make publicly available on the part of its website dedicated to animal welfare issues information including but not limited to —
"(a) the Code of Ethical Conduct of each code holder:
"(b) all applications for manipulations of animals made to each Animal Ethics Committee:

"(c) the records of the consideration given to each application as specified in section 118A(1):

"(d) protocols of the experiments detailing the methods involved in the manipulations carried out:

"(e) assessment of the actual suffering experienced by each animal subject to manipulation and the measures taken to alleviate this suffering as specified in section 118A(2):

"(f) the results of, and information pertaining to, individual experiments or tests as set out in section 118A(3):

"(g)the information provided by each institution in accordance with the Animal Welfare (Records and Statistics) Regulations 1999:

"(h) reports of monitoring, both announced and unannounced, by members of Animal Ethics Committees and by others, of the way in which the animals were manipulated and housed, as well as concerning non-compliance with the Act, as specified in section 103, it's regulations, the code holder's code of ethical conduct, conditions imposed by Animal Ethics Committees and similar matters:

"(i) reports of independent reviews of Animal Ethics Committees and Codes of Ethical Conduct as specified in section 115.

"(3) In order to protect the identity of personnel mentioned in subsection (1), nothing in this section requires the names or addresses of members of the Animal Ethics Committees or of applicants to be made public.

"(4)The information described in subsection (2)(a) to (i) must be made available within —

"(a) Six months of the commencement of this Act, in the case of subsection
(2)(a) and within six months of any renewal of a Code of Ethical Conduct:

"(b)Six months of the consideration of the application by the Animal Ethics Committee in the cases of subsections (2)(b) and (c):

"(c)Six months of the completion of the manipulation in the cases of subsections (2)(d), (e), and (f):

"(d)Three months of the receipt by the NAEAC of the information specified in the case of subsections (2)(g):

"(e)Three months of the monitoring being carried out, in the case of subsection (2)(h):

"(f)Three months of the independent review being received by the NAEAC in
the case of subsection (2)(i).