We know that animals feel pain and fear, but we’re still acting as if that’s not true. The time is long overdue to create a more ethical, modern research paradigm that benefits both humans and other animals.

In this Scientific American essay, Dr. Hope Ferdowsian discusses why animals deserve research protections similar to those that humans get. As she points out, outrage over centuries of injustices and the exploitation of human research subjects led to the creation of The Belmont Report in 1974 (which was published in 1979).

The Belmont Report established key principles to which human research should adhere: respect for autonomy, obligations to justice and doing good, and special protections for vulnerable individuals and populations.

And a Belmont Report for animals would provide similar protections, transforming medical research to benefit humans and nonhuman animals both.

Read the essay.