In early May, the Beijing Municipal Legal Affairs Office
announced that it had drafted legislation on animal welfare. The
news aroused hot debate, but the draft was withdrawn from
consideration on May 17. The overriding opinion was that it was
impractical and premature.
However, a chapter on animal welfare has been added into the
Regulations on the Management of Experimental Animals, which will
be promulgated this year. Although the chapter is brief -- just 200
Chinese characters -- it is the first time in China that animal
welfare is to be regulated. It is, says He Zhengming, vice
secretary-general of the China Experimental Animals Society, "a big
step towards the legislation of animal welfare." He was one of the
people responsible for drafting the new chapter.
The Guangzhou Daily recently talked with He about the
regulation and the concept of animal welfare in general.
Guangzhou Daily: What does "animal welfare"
mean?
He Zhengming: Western nations began to deal with the issue
of animal welfare fairly early on. In 1822, the first related law
in the world was enacted in Ireland. The West has quite a complete
animal welfare system, from organizations to regulations.
Internationally accepted standards categorize animals as domestic,
experimental, working, recreational, pet and wild animals. Animal
welfare is generally understood to include keeping animals free
from starvation, pain, terror and sadness and allowing them to live
comfortably and express their natural instincts freely.
The purpose of animal welfare protection in Western countries is
different from that in China. Western countries' stance focuses
entirely on the animals, emphasizing respect for animals' rights
and equality between humans and animals. They insist that human
beings' rights do not entitle them to force animals to serve them.
I think it's a little bit extreme.
GD: Why should China legislate animal welfare?
HZ: China has few existing laws and regulations
concerning animal protection. It lacks a specific, complete,
comprehensive law dealing with this area. The sphere of animal
protection is also small. As a result, Chinese people don't have
clear or complete understanding of how to protect animals or the
significance of the issue.
Animal welfare is no longer just a conceptual issue. It is the
inevitable result of social and economic development at a certain
stage, and touches on many aspects of society and the economy. The
European Union, the United States, Canada and Australia all have
laws concerning animal welfare, and there are also articles
concerning animal welfare in the WTO rules. The European Parliament
and European Council will prohibit cosmetics toxicity and
anaphylaxis experiments on animals among their member nations from
2009. Members will also be forbidden to import or sell cosmetics
from areas that violate that prohibition. It is a typical
application of technical international trade barriers.
GD: The Beijing municipal government finally suspended
the draft on animal welfare because experts thought it is too early
to legislate it. What is your opinion on the timing?
HZ: The suitability of legislating animal welfare in
China under the current national conditions has really triggered
hot debate. I think it is early to enact a special law on animal
welfare. The possibility of the masses accepting the concept in
general is a problem. Most people have no awareness of it. It will
take a long time for them to accept it.
The level of economic development is another problem. For
instance, according to international rules on animal welfare,
living space for each animal is a factor that must be considered
when raising animals. However, in China, when edible animals such
as pigs, cattle, and sheep are raised on farms, we consider mainly
how to reduce costs and increase profits. As another example,
animal welfare rules say toys and space should be provided for
monkeys used in laboratories because of the habits of the animal.
Conditions in Chinese laboratories are relatively poor, with
limited space. Emphasizing animal welfare will increase the
maintenance, research and protection costs.
GD: What principles were applied in drafting the chapter
on animal welfare for the regulation?
HZ: The chapter concerning animal welfare will clearly
define the status of experimental animals. There will be laws and
rules to follow when dealing with experimental animals' welfare in
the future. It describes what people are permitted to do and how
they are to do it, as well as what they are prohibited from doing
when conducting scientific experiments on animals.
The newly added chapter of animal welfare, based on the
principle of promoting scientific development, emphasizes trying to
reduce the number of animals used in experiments, improving the
animals' environment and reducing the animals' pain. In practical
application, the animals should be given pain-relieving drugs
during experiments, and should be euthanized afterward.
GD: Precisely what areas does the regulation cover?
HZ: There are four articles in the new chapter, not quite
200 characters. But drafting it took a whole year. The chapter
states what animal welfare is, from a scientific angle:
experimental animal welfare involves reproduction, raising,
transportation and utilization of experimental animals. Animal
experiments are a sensitive issue in animal welfare.
However, the 200-character chapter contains a limited number of
specific articles that cannot practically cover all possible
circumstances. Therefore, it will necessary to develop practical
rules and regulations for implementation, or directive principles
that can meet the requirements of work with experimental animals,
push scientific development and follow international practice.
Animal protection laws, appeals and lobbying by animal
protection organizations, and particularly in-depth research on
animal experiments have led to apparent improvements in
experimental-animal welfare in developed countries. For example, a
licensing system was introduced in animal experimentation; goals,
animals and lab conditions are under scrutiny; living conditions
for experimental animals have been improved; and the physical and
psychological health of animals and their biological features are
attended to and their quality of life enhanced.
(China.org.cn translated by Zhang Tingting, June 4, 2004)
