The U.S. Department of Agriculture is considering replacing or modifying the system used to classify animal pain and distress for animals used for research, tests, experiments, or teaching. USDA is also considering creating an Animal Welfare Act definition for the word “distress.”

“Although the word distress is used throughout the regulations, there is not a written definition included in those regulations,” said W. Ron DeHaven, deputy administrator for animal care with the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, a part of USDA’s marketing and regulatory programs mission area. “We are also interested in comments regarding the replacement or modification of the current system used to classify animal pain and distress experienced by lab animals.”

USDA will seek public comment on these issues in order to determine whether the regulations should be changed. There are a number of examples of pain and distress classification systems in use in various countries around the world. The system adopted by the Canadian Council on Animal Care can be viewed on the Internet at www.ccac.ca/english/categ.html. Another system, proposed by the Humane Society of the United States, is available for viewing at https://hsus.org/programs/research/usda_proposal_scale.html