Insect Regulations

[Kenelm Philip]

> Are there rules regulating the treatment of insects?

	To the best of my knowledge (which may not be complete on this
matter) there are no rules covering the treatment of live insects as
experimental animals in the US. There were a few postings a year or
two ago on either this group or Entomo-L to the effect that some
individual universities in Canada had adopted rules for ethical
treatment of insects in the laboratory--a development that did not
lead to rejoicing by most entomologists--but I do not know if these rules
are still in force, or have been subsequently dropped.

	As to whether such rules are needed, there will be a wide variety
of opinion. For my own part, I will wait until it has been demonstrated
that insects have pain receptors before I even consider such ideas...
And even then there is room for argument. The idea of a lab with tens of
thousands of _Drosophila_ having to submit paperwork on the health
and proper treatment of each insect boggles the imagination...  :-)

							Ken Philip
fnkwp at uaf.edu