Cambridge researchers say they aren’t worried about last month’s City Council ordinance, which regulates the treatment of vertebrates used in laboratory experiments. According to Dick Taylor, professor of biology and chairman of the Animal Care Committee at Harvard University, the newlaw won’t affect the way research is conducted. The research laboratories in Cambridge already have very high standards, and, he says, “we’re very proud of how we care for the animals.” Taylor adds that the ordinance will actually benefit the research community by gaining the “trust and confidence of the public.”
According to Mayor Alfred E. Vellucci, who proposed the ordinance three years ago, Cambridge has set a precedent by passing the first such local law in the country. And Ken Russell, associate director of the Cambridge Committee for Responsible Research, says he has had requests for information about the ordinance from the city of Lowell, Mass., and from cities ...
