Mostofthecountriesexaminedforthisassessmenthavelaws
farmoreprotectiveofexperimentalanimalsthanthoseinthe
United States. Despite these protections, animal welfare
advocateshavebeenapplyingconsiderablepressureforeven
stronger laws, and many countries, including Australia,
Switzerland, WestGermany,and the UnitedKingdom, are
considering major changes.^112
Strongerlawshaveinfactalreadybeenpassedin Australia
and the United Kingdom since that statement was made.
Ihopethiscomparisonwillnotbemisunderstood.Itisnot
intendedtoshowthatalliswellwithanimalexperimentation
in countries like the UnitedKingdom and Australia. That
would be far from the truth. In those countries the
“balancing”ofpotentialbenefitsagainstharmtotheanimals
is still carried out within the assumption of a speciesist
attitude to animals, thus rendering it impossible for the
interests of animals to be given equal consideration with
similarinterestsofhumans.Ihavecomparedthesituationin
theUnitedStateswiththatinothercountriesonlyinorderto
showthatAmericanstandardsinthismatterareabysmal,not
just bythe standardsof animalliberationists, but bythose
accepted by the scientific communities of other major
developed nations. It would be salutary for United States
scientists to see themselves as their colleagues in other
countries see them.
AtmedicalandscientificconferencesIattendinEuropeand
Australia,Iamfrequentlytakenasidebyscientistswhotell
methattheymaynotagreewithallmyviewsaboutanimal
experimentation,but...andthentheytellme,withgenuine
horrorintheirvoice,aboutsomethingtheysawduringtheir
lasttriptotheUnitedStates.Nowonderthatintherespected