developednations.InBritain,forexample,noexperimentcan
be conductedwithouta licensegranted bythesecretary of
state for home affairs, and the Animals (Scientific
Procedures)Act,1986,expresslydirectsthatindetermining
whethertogranta licenseforanexperimentalproject, “the
SecretaryofStateshallweighthelikelyadverseeffectsonthe
animals concerned againstthe benefitlikely to accrue.” In
Australia, the Code of Practice developed by the leading
governmental scientific bodies (equivalent to the National
Institutes of Health in the United States) requiresthat all
experimentsmustbeapprovedbyanAnimalExperimentation
EthicsCommittee.Thesecommitteesmustincludea person
withaninterestinanimalwelfarewhoisnotemployedbythe
institution conducting the experiment, and an additional
independentpersonnotinvolvedinanimalexperimentation.
The
committee must apply a detailed set of principles and
conditionsthatincludeaninstructiontoweighthescientific
oreducationalvalueoftheexperimentagainstthepotential
effectsonthewelfareofanimals.Inaddition,anesthesiamust
be used if theexperiment “may causepainof a kind and
degree for which anesthesia would normally be used in
medical or veterinary practice.” The Australian Code of
Practice applies to all researchers obtaining government
grants,andunderstatelawisbindingonallexperimentersin
Victoria,NewSouthWales,andSouthAustralia.^111 Sweden
alsorequiresexperimentstobeapprovedbycommitteesthat
include laymembers. In1986, aftersurveying the lawsin
Australia, Canada, Japan, Denmark, Germany, the
Netherlands,Norway,Sweden,Switzerland, andtheUnited
Kingdom, the U.S. Congress Office of Technology
Assessment concluded:
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