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In a recently filed complaint to the US Department of Transportation, the National Association for Biomedical Research accuses four major airlines of illegally discriminating against customers wishing to fly animals destined for the lab. The practice is unlawful, the complaint argues, because the airlines agree to carry the same species for zoos, pets, and other purposes.
“The prohibition on the carriage of research animals [slows] down the progress of essential and life-saving research that is necessary for drugs, treatments, cures and the prevention of disease,” writes National Association for Biomedical Research (NABR) President Matthew Bailey in an email to The Scientist.
For instance, Pennsylvania-based Covance Research Products, a contract research organization that imports animals from Asia, has to rely on “only a select few airlines continuing to offer very limited, and often circuitous, routes that add time and cost,” according to the complaint.
Within the US, ...
