Preamble

Research involving animals has advanced since its inception without the aid of a framework of general moral principles. The need for such a framework might therefore be doubted, but several developments call for a reconsideration and reconstruction of animal research ethics. First, public concerns about animal welfare have increased substantially in recent decades and continue to increase. Second, the scientific study of animals has afforded a wealth of new insights into their behaviors, mental lives, and basic needs. Third, animal ethics emerged in the last quarter of the twentieth century as an important field of interdisciplinary scholarship and has expanded for several decades, frequently challenging traditional ways of thinking about animals’ moral status and human responsibilities for their care and use....