Institutional animal care and use committees and the moderate position.

Abstract

• ­ . ':-~~• In his article on IACUCS,l L. Finsen provides three useful categories of ethical pmlpectives one can take on research using nonhuman animals. One can hold to a laissez{aire approach, a 'moderate' approach, or an abolitionist approach. The first considers that aU research on nonhuman animals is justifiable provided it adheres to 'humane' standards of minimizing pain and distress; the third considers that no research on nonhuman animals is justifiable whether it is 'humanely' conducted or not; and the second, 'moderate', approach, holds that some research is justifIable, some not, depending on the purpose of the research, and that all justifiable research must adhere to 'humane' standards. In this paper I want to 1) relate how a 'moderate' was appointed to the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC) at the Oregon Regional Primate Research Center (ORPRC) and some of the results of this; 2) raise questions as to the proper place for the sort ofethical concern for animals that Finsen supports; 3) indicate why I'm a 'moderate'.