Vivisection under the Nazi's

This article is made up of two parts. Firstly we look at the legislation that the Nazi Party enacted in terms of vivisection that show that vivisection was not halted; on the contrary the Nazi Party attempted to show vivisection was an "important link in the chain of research methods." And secondly we will show that the pro-vivisection's rallying call - the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act is almost identical to the laws enacted by the Nazi Party.

Part 1. The Nazi Party's Vivisection Policy.

After initially enacting temporary law restricting vivisection the Nazi Party enacted new laws that took effect from the 1st February 1934. The law can be summarised thus:[1]

• The federal minister of the interior was able to grant permission to perform animal experiments
• Any person who carried out animal experiments without permission could be sent to prison for up to 6 months and fined
• Only trained people may carry out animal experiments
• Experiments could only be carried out if they promised a definite result or clarified an unsolved problem
• The experimenter must cause the minimum of pain to animals, experiments could only be carried out under anaesthetic unless it would ruin the experiment or the act of putting the animal under would cause it stress.
• Animals couldn't be used more than once
• If an animal is in pain during an experiment it should be put down straight away.
• Experiments on horses, dogs, cats or monkeys were not allowed if other animals could be used instead.
• Animal experiments for educational purposes was not allowed if pictures, films and models could be used instead.
• Reports had to be made on experiments carried out with a clear statement of purpose
• All the above did not apply if the experiment was connected with the administration of justice, vaccinations, talking a blood sample or obtaining or testing vaccines

Part 2. A Comparison Between The Nazi Party Vivisection Policy and the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986.

Any study of the literature produced by pro-vivisection organisations will inevitably lead to a leaflet regarding the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 which regulates all animal experiments in the UK. Pro-vivisection organisations fall over themselves to praise the act which some of them helped frame.

By comparing the pro-vivisection literature on the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 and the Nazi Party's vivisection policy it can be seen that the two are almost identical.