Washington

In a victory for biomedical research lobbyists, rodents and birds are to remain outside the scope of the Animal Welfare Act, the main US animal-protection law.

Under an amendment to the current farm bill placed by Senator Jesse Helms (Republican, North Carolina), the US Department of Agriculture will be forbidden from extending the act to cover the animals most widely used in research. The farm bill, with the amendment intact, was approved by a conference between the House and the Senate on 26 April, and President Bush has promised to sign it after both houses vote for the agreed measure.

The act oversees the housing, healthcare and transport conditions for animals used in research. Universities and biomedical research lobbyists had campaigned energetically for its continued exclusion of mice, rats and birds.

But animal-rights groups say that the success of the amendment calls into question the relevance of the entire act, as rats and mice alone account for 95% of the animals used in laboratory research in the United States.