Animals in Research Facilities / 95science.^30 Many scientists acquire a signifi cant stake in continuing
to use animals in their research not only because of their commit-
ment to the paradigm that endorses their use but also because jour-
nals and funding agencies commonly expect or even require animal
models. Researchers seeking to publish or receive tenure, promo-
tion, or grants are unlikely to try alternatives. Thus, the suitabil-
ity of animal models for studying human conditions goes virtually
unquestioned. The American Medical Association and the interna-
tional research society Sigma Xi staunchly defend the use of ani-
mals in research.^31 The biomedical community overall asserts that
most modern medical advances have resulted from animal experi-
mentation. From this perspective, the benefi ts to humans outweigh
any harm to animals. Questioning these prevailing assumptions
about the use of animals would threaten the current paradigm of
biomedical research altogether.^32 Criticism of the generalizability
of animal models typically comes from those outside the scientifi c
community, whose views the “insiders” thus deem unscientifi c or
even antiscience.
Finally, it does not seem coincidental that as the use of mice
increased, animal welfare legislation determined that the status of
“animal,” and therefore the protection extended to them, does not
apply to mice and rats bred for research. In the United States, the
initial legislation we know as the Animal Welfare Act aimed at pre-
venting the theft of pets for use in experiments. This issue came to
public attention in the mid-1960s through two popular magazines.
An exposé in Sports Illustrated reported that a missing Dalmatian
named Pepper had appeared in a local newspaper’s photograph of
a dog dealer’s truck.^33 When Pepper’s family went to retrieve her,
the dog dealer turned them away from his “farm.” U.S. Representa-
tive Joseph Resnick (D-New York) also attempted to retrieve Pepper
and was denied entrance. Along the way, Pepper died in an experi-
mental procedure at Montefi ore Hospital in New York. Soon after,
Resnick introduced a bill to require U.S. Department of Agriculture
licensing and inspection of dog and cat dealers and the laboratories
that purchased them. Four months later, Life magazine called atten-
tion to how research facilities procured their animals, particularly