Transgenic animals and animal welfare.

Under the pressure of a public vote in Switzerland (7 June 1998) on an initiative to ban the production, use and patenting of transgenic animals, their value for biomedical research and development is intensely debated. In addition, the Swiss legislation has adopted (1992) a constitutional obligation to "take into account the dignity of creatures". The term "dignity of creatures", however, can be interpreted in anthropocentric or biocentric ways. The government has now formulated the legal implications of this term for transgenic animals and plants in various laws including the animal and environmental protection laws. This paper gives arguments for a fair evaluation of trangenic animals from an animal welfare point of view where not only the costs of animal suffering must be considered but also the probability of potential benefit for man. A self-confident research community should allow such an evaluation procedure even in view of an outcome which could ban many uses of transgenic animals