The Law That Recognized Animals as Sentient Beings
Mexico City’s new animal welfare law recognizes animals as sentient beings and protects their rights. It includes provisions for dignified treatment, even in scientific research.
The Law for the Protection and Welfare of Animals in Mexico City incorporated bioethical reflection and the advancement of animal welfare science by considering animals as sentient beings, although it still does not include them as subjects of law, explained the professor of the Faculty of Sciences (FC) of the UNAM, Elizabeth Téllez Ballesteros.
In the Bioethics Talks series, organized by the Commission on Academic Ethics and Scientific Responsibility (CEARC) of that academic entity, the specialist said that this legislation includes dignified and respectful treatment, even for animals used in scientific research.
"The law, published in the Official Gazette of the Federal District in 2002, has undergone modifications. The most recent update was on June 7 of this year, which includes modifications to the language. For example, animals are recognized as sentient beings.
A sentient being is an individual who has the ability to experience pain, pleasure, that is, both positive and negative experiences, and is also aware of themselves and their surroundings. That is one of the innovative terms, she said.
Another new aspect is the concept of "dignified treatment", which recognizes the intrinsic or inherent value of animals. However, animals that do not constitute a pest and are permanently or temporarily within the territory of Mexico City are subject to guardianship and protection under this regulation, including:
Domestic animals, abandoned animals, feral animals, animals used for sports, trained animals, assistance dogs, animals used for shows, display animals, animals used for total confinement, animals used for loading and shooting, animals used for supply, animals used in traditional medicine and scientific research, animals used for security and guarding, animals used in angelotherapy, wild animals, as well as animals in aquariums and dolphinariums.
One more change is the concept of "tenure". Animals must be recognized not as objects but as living, sentient individuals. And now there is a focus on "responsible guardianship
"Although it cannot be said that those used in research and teaching have a tutor, they can have a guardian and a person in charge, and in that case the guardian and person responsible would be the teachers, the students, the laboratory technician or technicians who are going to work with them," she said.
Another term in the law is 'welfare' of animals to meet the criteria that are necessary for them to be well. They are known as the five domains, which include nutrition, environment or housing, health, species-specific behavior, and mental states. Although he included these considerations, now he places greater emphasis on them, said Téllez Ballesteros.
"Precisely articles 46 and 47, which refer to the use of laboratory animals in scientific research and were already considered before, were not modified. For example, Article 46 considers what we could know as conscientious objection, that is, it allows or endorses that students can refuse to carry out a practice that causes harm to the animal.
And teachers would have to propose an alternative method to evaluate the acquisition of knowledge, and that implies that it can be an alternative that replaces animals, totally or partially. "
It also states that vivisection and animal experimentation for teaching or teaching purposes are prohibited at primary and secondary school levels. These practices will be replaced by diagrams, videos, biological materials, and other alternative methods.
It considers that when cases are permitted, none may be used more than once in vivisection experiments, and must first be desensitized, according to the characteristics of the species and the type of experimental procedure, cured and properly fed, before and after the intervention.
Article 47 indicates that experiments are only allowed with those that are justified before an institutional ethics committee; these groups are also considered in the Official Mexican Standard 062 and what they seek is to review the research protocols so that, through specific welfare indicators, it can be guaranteed that the specimens are in the best conditions.
In this case, the experiments must be carried out under the supervision of an officially recognized higher education or research institution, and the person directing them must have the necessary knowledge and accreditation.
It also states that animals may only be used when it is not possible to obtain results with diagrams, drawings, films, photographs, videotapes, biological materials, any other analogous procedure, or some other ethically acceptable alternative.
"Many alternatives have been developed in research. In education, there are still more options to replace animals, and it does not mean they will stop being used at this time, but they should be sought first, before doing an experiment with animals, if there are alternatives.
There are organizations worldwide that develop these alternative processes, there are biochips, human-on-a-chip, computer simulators that are in silico models, in vitro models, cell cultures, 2D cell culture models, organoids, even other individuals that are not yet proven to be one hundred percent sentient," the spokesperson said.
In these cases, the Ministry of Health is the body that will be able to supervise the conditions and development of experimental surgical interventions, in addition to implementing and managing the registry of laboratories, scientific and academic institutions linked to research, education, breeding, production, and management of animals.
"In general, it is a law that has incorporated bioethical reflection, the advancement in the knowledge of the science of animal welfare, which protects these individuals as subjects of protection, although they are not yet considered subjects of law. It could even be added that the use of invertebrates, such as insects, for animal research, which can already be considered as sentient, there is already scientific evidence to guarantee that they will also be considered in the future as subjects of protection," she added.
The Bioethics Talks are organized by the CEARC of the FC once a month during the semester. Ángeles Cancino Rodezno, an academic from the Department of Biology of the FC and member of the commission, said one of the purposes is to create meeting points for dissemination, dialogue, debate, and teaching on these issues that have ethical and legal implications in some cases.
