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"Public Attitudes toward Animal Research:
Some International Comparisons"
Authors of original article: Linda Pifer,
Kinya Shimizu, and Ralph Pifer
Originally published in Society and Animals
Volume 2, Number 2, 1994*
Using surveys conducted in 15 nations, the authors
comparatively analyzed the public's attitudes toward the use of
animals in scientific research. The surveys analyzed were
conducted in the late 1980s and early 1990s in the United States,
Canada, Japan, Greece, Spain, Portugal, East Germany, West
Germany, Belgium, France, the Netherlands, Great Britain, Ireland,
Denmark, and Italy. Respondents were asked to agree or disagree
with the statement, "Scientists should be allowed to do research
that causes pain and injury to animals like dogs and chimpanzees
if it produces new information about human health problems." The
analysis grouped responses to that statement by respondents'
gender, level of scientific knowledge, and concern for
environmental issues.
France exhibited the highest level of opposition to animal
research: 68% strongly disagreed or disagreed with the statement.
The United States, with only 42% opposed to animal research, was
close to Portugal and Greece, which had the lowest percentages
opposed-35 and 36%, respectively. This study reaffirmed past
studies conducted in the U.S. that found women more likely than
men to oppose animal research. In all 15 countries, a higher
percentage of women than of men opposed animal research. This
difference was largest in the Netherlands: 32% of men and 58% of
women opposed. In the U.S., 32% of men and 51% of women opposed
animal research.
Despite previous suggestions that opposition to animal research
might be linked to the general level of scientific literacy in the
U.S., this study found no consistent relationship between science
knowledge and support of or opposition to animal research. It did
find a strong relationship between concern for environmental
issues and attitudes toward animal research. Only in Greece,
Japan, and Portugal did more people very much interested in
environmental issues support than oppose animal research. In most
nations, the reverse was the case. The largest difference existed
in West Germany, where 75% of those very much concerned with
environmental issues opposed animal research and 22% supported it.
In the U.S., 48% with a high level of environmental concern
supported animal research; the same percentage opposed it.
Further examination of the data suggests a linkage between level
of industrialization and urbanization and attitudes toward animal
research. Greece and Portugal, with the lowest level of opposition
to animal research, are the least industrialized and urban nations
in the European Community. Possibly people with a closer
relationship to the land possess a more pragmatic attitude toward
animals as opposed to adoring them and mourning their deaths as in
the more industrialized and urban nations. Although research has
found females more likely than men to be caring toward animals, it
is possible for men to acquire high levels of empathic and
nurturing skills. Such a trend could help increase opposition to
animal research.
*Available from Psychologists for the
Ethical Treatment of Animals, P.O. Box 1297, Washington Grove,
MD 20880-1297; 301-963-4751.
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of Applied Animal Welfare Science or Society & Animals,
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