The Politics of Animal Research in the United States

Abstract

In many ways, the animal research policy arena in the United States is the most difficult to describe and evaluate. It is clearly the case that since the 1960s Congress has responded to intermittent bouts of public pressure and that, superficially at least, the legislative protection afforded to research animals is better than it was. The range of institutions and actors involved in the animal research decision-making process would also suggest the existence of a pluralistic issue network rather than a closed policy community. What this chapter will seek to show, however, is that this very pluralistic structure has appeared, more often than not, to blunt the edges of reform thereby thwarting the will of Congress and a concerned public.