Animal care and use: an issue now and in the future

Animal rights proponents equate human and animal rights or capacity to suffer pain. Animal welfare is a philosophy that centers on animal well-being, a stewardship role that producers view as affecting profitability but the general public may view as having additional components. The agenda of some animal rights proponents may be positioned under the guise of animal welfare to gain acceptability for portions of their work. Currently, guidelines and accreditation programs targeted at ensuring proper animal care and use increasingly include agricultural animals. Also, public initiatives such as the Massachusetts ballot initiative to curtail animal agriculture and the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine's attempts to curtail the use of milk and meat in human diets were defeated by educating the general public. Various organizations have been developed to address animal care and use issues. The Animal Industry Foundation is a broad-based agricultural organization addressing animal rights issues. National biomedical organizations, the Foundation of Biomedical Research and the National Association for Biomedical Research, address education and governmental animal rights issues. State-level coalitions, such as those recently organized in Missouri, of agricultural organizations, academic research units, biomedical institutions, and agribusiness or consumer products companies offer great promise of educating others on animals rights and welfare issues. Animal scientists need to educate themselves on these issues, participate in their own institutional Animal Care and Use Committees, and help to educate the general public through organizations and programs at the local, state, and national level.