Open Transparent Communication about Animals in Laboratories: Dialog for Multiple Voices and Multiple Audiences

SIMPLE SUMMARY: Over the past 10 years, animal research support groups in Europe have committed to greater openness and transparency of research institutions and scientists, a commitment that US labs could also take up. For openness initiatives to satisfy animal welfare advocates’ concerns, openness must be more than just showing more; it must invite feedback on what to show. In this article, I propose going further in the US, inviting animal welfare advocates into laboratories, onto ethics committees, and into any initiatives to update guidelines for animal care practices. ABSTRACT: In this article, I offer insights and proposals to the current movement for increased openness and transparency about animal use in laboratories. Increased transparency cannot be total transparency—as no story or picture can ever be complete. When research advocates share their stories, they must decide which words and pictures to edit out. I ask here: Who of the listening “public” gets a chance to revisit this editing, and find the information that is important to them? To the extent that (what I call) the “new openness” attempts to speak to a “lay public” and exclude animal activists, I suggest that refinement-focused animal protectionists deserve enhanced avenues of openness and inclusion—which some research advocates might fear giving to more extreme activists and which a less invested “lay public” may not want or need. I conclude with some specific examples and suggestions to not just invite inquiry from animal advocates, but to bring them in as witnesses and participants, to learn from and incorporate their concerns, priorities, expertise, and suggestions. This can bring a diversity of ideas and values that could improve the quality of science, the credibility of animal researchers, and the welfare of the animals in laboratories.