Animal Testing Regulations - Japan - Japanese Law

Japanese Law

An amendment was passed in 1999 to update a law enacted in 1973. This amendment updated the Law Concerning the Protection and Control of Animals, during this time the name of the law was changed to the Law for the Humane Treatment and Management of Animals. This new amendment added verbiage to protect all species of animal from animal cruelty.

This new law placed a strong emphasis on the responsibility of the owners of animals as well as alleviation of pain, distress, companionship, well-being, and respect for life. The new law also called for humane deaths to all animals used for scientific purposes. In 1980 a specific set of standards was outlined and set for the Standards Relating to the Care and Management of Experimental Animals. Although these standards laid the ground work for care and management of laboratory animals it did not specify the use of the animals. The Prime Minister was also advised at this time by The Science Council of Japan who submitted a recommendation titled "Establishment of Animal Experimentation Guidelines" as a guide to set up formal administrative guidelines for the use of animals for scientific research.

As a reaction to this recommendation the Ministry of Education sent out a notification titled "Establishment of Animal Testing Guidelines" to all Universities and private institutions to voluntary come up with guidelines on animal experimentation. In response private research institutions along with Universities established policies and submitted their own guidelines, manuals, principles, and materials to comply with the laws and the direction of the administration. This led to other scientific association to submitted guidelines for the individual fields of research; this was a way to show encouragement for other members in the field of scientific research to balance science and animal welfare.