Harvard Law Clinic Aids Animal Welfare Groups’ Lawsuit Against United States Department of Agriculture

Harvard Law School’s Animal Law and Policy Clinic sued the United States Department of Agriculture Wednesday on behalf of several animal rights groups for allegedly ignoring a 2014 petition calling on the federal agency to protect non-human primates used in lab research. The animal welfare groups — New England Anti-Vivisection Society, Animal Legal Defense Fund, and International Primate Protection League — called on the USDA several years ago to widely disseminate standards promoting the psychological well-being of primates used in research in accordance with the Animal Welfare Act. In particular, the plaintiffs are calling for standards similar to those adopted in 2013 by the National Institutes of Health for chimpanzees used in federally funded research, according to court documents. The suit was filed with the U.S. District Court in Massachusetts under the Administrative Procedures Act. The Administrative Procedures Act requires federal agencies to respond to rulemaking petitions within a “reasonable” amount of time. The plaintiffs in the case claim that the USDA violated the act. Harvard Law School students Brett W. Richey and Boanne R. Wassink are serving as counsel in the case. The two work under the supervision of the Director of the Animal Law and Policy Clinic Katherine Meyer. The animal law and policy clinic is one of the law school’s 22 in-house clinics. The clinics provide law students with the opportunity to work on cases as they complete their education. Richey said the lawsuit’s immediate goal is to get a response to the petition, but that they have additional longer-term goals. “We’re really hoping that through this lawsuit and maybe future action in the clinics that we can get some better, stronger regulations in place to promote the psychological well being of primates because primates have a lot of psychological, mental, emotional needs,” Richey said. Wassink added that in addition to the case’s value, the work also provides good experience for law students...MORE