In February 2019, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) made a significant—and apparently secret—change to how it oversees laboratory animal welfare. Instead of fully inspecting all of the nearly 1100 facilities that house monkeys, rabbits, and other creatures used in biomedical research, it mandated partial "focused" inspections for places accredited by a private organization of lab vets and scientists called AAALAC International. Critics say the policy violates federal law and could lead to the suffering of thousands of lab animals. But others say what the agency is doing is legal, though some are concerned that USDA has apparently kept its new approach confidential.

2019年2月，美国农业部（USDA）对监督实验室动物福利的方式进行了重大调整，而且显然是秘密的。它没有完全检查容纳生物医学研究中使用的猴子，兔子和其他生物的将近1100个设施，而是强制对由AAALAC International的私人实验室兽医和科学家认可的场所进行部分“集中”检查。批评人士说，该政策违反了联邦法律，并可能导致成千上万只实验动物遭受痛苦。但是其他人则说，该机构的行为是合法的，尽管有些人担心美国农业部显然已经对其新方法保密。