One of the few "windows" into a research facility's animal laboratories has been the annual reports that these facilities file with the U.S. Department of Agriculture under the Animal Welfare Act.

These reports have been available to the public under the Freedom of Information Act. However, this process has been frustratingly slow, with months--sometimes years--passing before the requested reports are provided. And to make matters worse, the USDA often redacted key portions of the reports or failed to locate reports altogether. The agency briefly experimented with putting the reports online--making them readily available to the public--but this was short-lived.

Now, thanks to an HSUS lawsuit, aided by a commitment of the Obama administration to "usher in a new era of open government," this frustrating situation is about to change.

According to a settlement reached earlier this month in the HSUS lawsuit against the USDA, research facility reports must now be made publicly available online, and in a timely manner. Additionally, less information will be redacted from the reports. The USDA will also have to indicate on its website which facilities did not submit annual reports, and thereby violated Animal Welfare Act requirements.

The annual reports at issue describe the numbers and species of animals used in experiments, as well as whether or not the animals experienced unrelieved pain and distress (if so, an explanation of the procedure and scientific justification must be included). The reports must also contain an explanation of any cases in which research protocols did not comply with the Animal Welfare Act--such as by restraining a nonhuman primate for more than 12 hours--owing to alleged scientific necessity.

While these reports don't contain all of the information animal protection groups would like to have, they are the main, and virtually only, source for getting a glimpse of the level of animal research occurring in any given facility. The reports will be used to track the most common procedures reported as causing unrelieved pain and distress or triggering exceptions to the Animal Welfare Act, as well as the scientific justification for those procedures and exceptions, among other trends. After the HSUS's four-year legal battle, gaining access to this unique information will no longer take years.

Source: The Humane Society of the United States