I
103D CONGRESS
2D SESSION
H. R. 4971
To amend the Animal Welfare Act to strengthen the annual reporting require-
ments of research facilities conducting animal experimentation or testing
and to improve the accountability of animal experimentation programs
of the Department of Defense.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
AUGUST 16, 1994
Mr. TORRICELLI (for himself, Mr. JACOBS, Mr. DEUTSCH, Mr. MANTON, Mr.
GEJDENSON, and Mr. SWETT) introduced the following bill; which was re-
ferred jointly to the Committees on Agriculture and Armed Services
A BILL
To amend the Animal Welfare Act to strengthen the annual
reporting requirements of research facilities conducting
animal experimentation or testing and to improve the
accountability of animal experimentation programs of the
Department of Defense.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Animal Experimen-
tation Right To Know Act’’.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
The Congress finds the following:
(1) Over 21,000,000 animals are used every
year in laboratory experiments and tests conducted
by research facilities subject to the Animal Welfare
Act (7 U.S.C. 2131 et seq.), and many of these ex-
periments and tests are painful, distressful and
cause permanent injury or death to the animals.
(2) In addition to animal experimentation and
testing conducted by private research facilities, the
Federal Government spends over $5,000,000,000
annually on experiments and tests involving the use
of animals.
(3) The Federal Government must bear the re-
sponsibility for making information on animal ex-
perimentation complete, coherent, and readily acces-
sible to the American public.
(4) While the Department of Agriculture cur-
rently requires all registered research facilities con-
ducting animal research to file an annual report, the
compilation of these reports fails to provide com-
prehensive annual profiles of laboratory animal use
in the United States.
(5) The Department of Defense conducts al-
most $200,000,000 worth of animal testing every
year and has not provided detailed information on
its experimentation programs.
(6) Military researchers receive Federal funding
for tests involving animals without being subject to
the same review process as other researchers in the
scientific community.
SEC. 3. RESEARCH FACILITIES ANNUAL REPORT REGARD-
ING ANIMAL EXPERIMENTATION AND TEST-
ING.
(a) ADDITIONAL
ELEMENTS
OF
REPORT.—Sub-
section (a)(7)(B) of section 13 of the Animal Welfare Act
(7 U.S.C. 2143) is amended—
(1) by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end of clause (ii);
(2) by striking the period at the end of clause
(iii) and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and
(3) by adding at the end the following new
clauses:
‘‘(iv) information regarding where animals used
by such facility were obtained;
‘‘(v) an accurate count of all animals of all spe-
cies used in animal experimentation testing, includ-
ing rats, mice, birds and other animals; and
‘‘(vi) information regarding the general pur-
poses of the animal experimentation program of
such facility, including whether the animals were
used in the fields of research, testing, or edu-
cation.’’.
(b) AVAILABILITY OF CERTAIN REPORT INFORMA-
TION.—Subsection (a)(7) of such section is amended by
adding at the end the following new subparagraph:
‘‘(C) The Secretary shall develop a system for releas-
ing to the public information derived from subparagraph
(B)(iv) regarding where animals used in research are ob-
tained.’’.
SEC. 4. DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE ANIMAL EXPERIMEN-
TATION PROGRAMS.
(a) SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS
FOR DEFENSE RE-
SEARCH FACILITIES.—Section 14 of the Animal Welfare
Act (7 U.S.C. 2144) is amended—
(1) by inserting ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—’’ after
‘‘SEC. 14.’’; and
(2) by adding at the end the following new sub-
section:
‘‘(b) SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS FOR DEPARTMENT OF
DEFENSE.—(1) The Secretary of Defense shall submit an
annual report to Congress on the animal experimentation
programs of the Department of Defense. The report shall
provide in-depth profiles of animal research (including
testing, education and training) conducted at each Depart-
ment research facility. To the greatest extent possible,
such report should be filed as an unclassified document.
‘‘(2) The annual report shall include the following:
‘‘(A) Initiatives to promote alternative research
methods that would phase out and reduce the use of
animals in research.
‘‘(B) Procedures adopted to prevent unintended
duplication of research.
‘‘(C) The total cost of the animal-based re-
search in comparison to other forms of biological re-
search conducted by the research facilities, each
military department, and the Department of Defense
as a whole.
‘‘(3) The Secretary of Defense shall establish pro-
grams to phase out and replace current uses of animals
at research facilities of the Department of Defense, in ac-
cordance with the initiatives identified under paragraph
(2)(A).
‘‘(4) The Secretary of Defense shall appoint an om-
budsman for animal issues at each research facility of the
Department of Defense. The purpose of this individual
would be to field and act on any complaints and concerns
about the facility’s animal care and use program.
‘‘(5) The Secretary of Defense shall submit an annual
report to the Secretary of Agriculture in accordance with
section 13(a)(7).
‘‘(6) The Secretary of Defense may submit a waiver
form in place of any information regarding animal tests
that the Secretary of Defense determines cannot be pub-
licly disclosed for reasons of national security.’’.
(b) REVIEW
OF DEFENSE ANIMAL EXPERIMEN-
TATION PROGRAMS.—The President shall appoint an 11
member panel of biomedical experts and animal care ex-
perts to investigate the animal use and care programs of
the Department of Defense. At the direction of the Presi-
dent, the panel shall examine the ethics and regulation of
the number and types of animal experiments conducted
by the Department of Defense.
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