Pain and distress management in animal research and testing: The humane society of the united states pain and distress initiative

The public’s perception that animals suffer in biomedical research and testing is a key factor fueling the controversy over animal experimentation. This public concern has brought about laws and regulations that specically address laboratory animal pain and distress and call for efforts to limit or at least report when animal pain and distress occur. However, the identication and management of pain and distress in research animals are complex issues that have received insufcient attention to date. To address the gaps in our knowledge of pain and distress, and to promote laboratory animal welfare, The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) has launched an initiative to eliminate signicant pain and distress in laboratory animals by the year 2020 by working with Institutional Animal Care and Use Committees (IACUCs) and scientists. While this is an ambitious goal, it is arguably within the ingenuity and skills of those who use and care for laboratory animals and the scope and responsibility of the scientic community. More importantly, while not widely recognized outside the research community, most scientists and laboratory personnel support efforts to minimize pain and distress in laboratory animals.