Guangdong officials will enact a new local law on October 1 to regulate the use of laboratory animals and protect animal welfare, government authorities announced on September 8.
According to the Laboratory Animals Management Regulation of Guangdong Province, all lab animals should be anaesthetized before experimental surgeries and animals must be euthanized after experiments, said Zhou Haitao, an official with Guangdong's Provincial Department of Science and Technology.
The new law also stipulates that if scientific research is not conducted as required by the law, the results of the experiments, evaluations and other findings will be deemed invalid.
Protecting the welfare of lab animals has become an important criterion for international society to recognize scientific research work, and is also a symbol of social progress, said Li Xinghua, head of Guangdong's Provincial Department of Science and Technology.
According to the regulation, an organization or institute should have a permit issued by the provincial science and technology authorities to conduct experiments on animals. All lab animals are strictly prohibited from being traded on the market.
People who break the law can be fined from 10,000 RMB (1,472 USD) to 30,000 RMB and suspended from conducting such experiments, said Zhou.
Nearly 60 to 70 percent of medical research projects perform experiments on lab animals in China. In Guangdong, more than 40 species have been used as lab animals in the fields of medicine, environmental and industrial production, added Li
Other provinces such as Heilongjiang, Guizhou and Yunnan and municipalities of Beijing and Tianjin have enacted similar regulations.
