Happy Mother’s Day to All the Moms!: Law, Science, Technology and Beagles

Angela Fralish, MJLST Guest Blogger

Beagles are well-known as a quintessential family dog because they love humans and listen to their owners (most of the time). What is less known, is that those same traits are the primary reasons they are used in 95% of canine medical experimentation. Although, beagles are not biologically comparable to humans, they are compliant people-pleasers, making them ideal subjects for scientific experiments.

This reality is a hard pill to swallow for animal lovers and scientists alike. To scientists, research beagles are a necessary evil decreasing the pain and suffering of humans. To advocates, beagles are victims of unspeakable cruelty.

One law bridges the divide between these opposing views to help the beagles. The Beagle Freedom Bill, created by the Beagle Freedom Project (BFP), forges a compromise between animal rights lawyers, scientists and medical technologists. The Bill asks that ”tax-payer funded laboratories offer up the “experimentally-spent” dogs and cats for public adoption through rescue organizations.” In other words, once the beagle is no longer used for research, the dog is given a home instead of euthanasia. Minnesota was the first state to sign the Bill into law in 2014, and since then, 5 more states have joined. Currently, 5 additional states are considering adopting this law as well.

In addition to legislative measures, the BFP has found other ways to help research beagles. They have created new technology such as the Cruelty-Cutter app which helps shoppers easily scan products for humane animal testing, and sued the USDA demanding restoration of scrubbed animal records. The Beagle Freedom Project is a leader in animal science law and a great example of how lawyers, scientists and technologists can work together for the greater good of both humans and animals.

Scientists are working to replace this “necessary evil” as well. According to Dr. Teresa Arora’s article Substitute of Animals in Drug Research: An Approach Towards Fulfillment of 4Rs, research methods are being developed that are “superior to using animals to learn about human disease or predict the safety of new drugs [and include] stem cells, microdosing, DNA chips, microfluidics chips, human tissue, new imaging technologies, and post-marketing drug surveillance.” There is even a Center for Alternatives to Animal Testing at John Hopkins University and the NC3R in the UK.

For an employee of medical research looking to carve out meaning in their every day workweek, helping research animals through new collaborative measures is one way to answer the call. As a lawyer, scientists or technologist, you can help develop policy, arbitrate between groups, hold violators accountable, assist in medical technology development, vote for the Beagle Freedom Bill or adopt a research beagle. According to Congressman Earl Blumenauer, “members of Congress are realizing that protecting animals is not just the right thing to do, it’s also developing to become potent politically.” Congress will need help understanding the relationship between animal models and science in order to make improvements. That help will come from people who work in these fields on a daily basis.

The Beagle Freedom Bill highlights the plight of animals languishing in labs and promotes cruelty-free lifestyle choices everyone can make. Now that BFP has opened the door, it is time for all of us to show a little gratitude to the beagles for their sacrifice in advancing medical science such as chemotherapy and insulin. We can do this in our own unique ways, and although we can’t change the world for all beagles, for some beagles, we can change the world.

As Mahatma Ghandi stated, “The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated.” I hope ours is one of progress.