"Animal care

After reading letters regarding animal rights (10 March) it seemed appropriate to communicate to your readers some further information about ANZCCART, the New Zealand Council for the Care of Animals in Research and Teaching.

ANZCCART is an independent body which has been developed to provide a forum for discussing issues concerning the use of animals in research and teaching.

ANZCCART has the following objectives:

• To promote excellence in the use of animals for research, teaching and testing.
• To foster the humane care and treatment of animals.
• To foster informed and responsible discussion and debate among all interested parties regarding the use of animals for scientific purposes.

The last objective is a particularly important one for ANZCCART.  ANZCCART acknowledges that there are differences of opinion regarding the use of animals by humans.  Resolution of such differences will only be possible through informed and constructive discussion and debate.  To be effective all individuals and groups directly involved, whether for or against the use of animals, must take part in these exchanges.

ANZCCART operates on a purely advisory basis and through its varied activities provides opportunities for all interested parties to participate in reviewing and developing societal attitudes in the use of animals for scientific purposes.  Through all of its activities ANZCCART seeks, where possible, to minimise the use of animals in research and teaching by applying the principles of replacement, refinement and reduction.

For further information regarding ANZCCART, contact the ANZCCART executive officer, c/o the Royal Society, PO Box 598, Wellington.

Ann Ballin
Chair, ANZCCART (NZ)"

Letter in City Voice 7 April 1994

Ninetytwo representatives of the NZ/Australia vivisection alliance (which includes the RNZSPCA) and three from Gt Britain met under the ANZCCART banner at its first annual conference held in Christchurch on 15-16 April 1994. As the title of this organisation is a misnomer, so we see is the title of its conference: "Animal Welfare in the 21st Century: Ethical, Educational and Scientific Challenges". NZAVS, the only organisation in New Zealand likely to give a "scientific challenge" is carefully omitted from the list of invitations, neither is it given the opportunity of sending an observer. This merely decides us to send one in an unofficial capacity, who's comprehensive report of proceedings is briefly summarised below:

The Ethical Challenges - introduced by Dame Ann Ballin.

• An almost 2 hour speech on ethics by philosopher James Battye of Massey University.
• Three vivisectors promote their projects:
  1. Liver research on rats (Bruce Dobbs and Robin Fraser, Christchurch Medical School.)
  2. Stress research on horses (Cliff Irvine, Lincoln University) - who says:
     "The NIH (US National Institute of Health) funds the research, the journals publish the research, so I can only assume the research is worthwhile."
  3. Induction of heart attacks in sheep by injecting polystyrene balls into their arteries (Hamid Ikram, Cardiology, Christchurch Hospital.)
• Natalie Taylor talks about her activities for her Animal Defenders League.

The Scientific Challenges

Five speakers:

1. "Animal Welfare Science - a discipline for the future or an ephemeral preoccupation?" (Geoff Hutson, Dept of Agriculture, University of Melbourne.)
2. "Animal welfare and the practice of wildlife science." (Clare J. Veltman, Ecology, Massey University.)
3. "Animal welfare and the behavioural sciences." (Rob N. Hughes, Psychology, University of Canterbury.)
4. "Zoos, wildlife parks, and animal welfare." (Robert Baker, Executive Officer of ANZCCART (Australia).)
5. "Genetic engineering and animal welfare." (Warren P. Tate, Dept of Biochemistry, University of Otago.)
   "Clearly there are conflicting issues here", says Tate, "on the one hand the benefits to humans, and on the other hand the exploitation of the animals. The individual researcher, the ethical committees, and society at large must play their roles in a correct balance between these competing tenets."

All speak about animal welfare issues affecting research, none speak about the validity of the research, all assume animal experiments are valid. None of the five give scientific challenge to vivisection.

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