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Opinion

Nature 416, 351 (28 March 2002) | doi:10.1038/416351b

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Rights, wrongs and ignorance

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Whether or not animals have 'rights', we should learn more about their capacity for suffering.

In Germany, the right of freedom to research is enshrined in the nation's constitution. But that may soon have to be balanced against a new constitutional right of animals to be treated as fellow creatures, and sheltered from avoidable pain.