In the past, this Journal has taken as one of its responsibilities the dissemination of information designed to minimize the discomfort of animals under our care. We are not only concerned with patients, but also those animals used in experimental pro­cedures.

Legislation, in most countries, leaves the decision as to the care of clinical patients to the judgement of the clinician in charge of a patient. Regulations also exist to provide for the care of animals that are used in experimental studies. Most journals require authors to quote the regulation in force in the country of origin of the man­uscript submitted. It has come to our knowledge that, regrettably, in many institutes only lip-service is paid to those regulations. A deplorable situation and one which this journal finds to be totally unacceptable.

The management of post-operative pain is now at the forefront of the minds of those involved in Critical Care, be the patient a human or animal. It is the ethical duty of veterinarians in the fields of Critical Care to ensure that this message gets to those working in the experimental field who have not had the benefit of a veterinary education. Recently, I was told by a surgeon, whose training was in human ortho­paedics, that he did not give his research animals any post-operative analgesics be­cause he "did not want them moving about and possibly spoil the experiments". Unfortunately, such remarks display a dreadful egotism and a lack of understand­ing of the processes of nature, not to mention a callus attitude. The fact that, in addition, the results of such experiments must be suspect, never enters the heads of such individuals.

This Journal feels bound to take a strong stand in this matter. Henceforth, in future it will not be sufficient for authors to state that an experiment has been conducted under the regulations governing vivisection in a particular country. We shall require that a paragraph, with a side heading "Post-operative care", be inserted in a manu­script, detailing the care, and including drug dosages and regimes. Failure to in­clude this material will necessitate the manuscript being returned to authors for its inclusion. The Referees will also be requested to state their opinion as to the scien­tific validity of the material in that paragraph. We believe that if authors are re­quired to include such material in a submission, they are more likely to carry out the protocol. Knowing that to state that they have carried out a regime, when in fact such was not the case, could and should, open them to a charge of professional misconduct.

The state of affairs, as we now see it, cannot be allowed to continue. It is the inten­tion of this journal to bring its stand on the matter to the attention of Editors-in-­Chief of other journals of Orthopaedics and Trauma in the hope that they too will adopt the same policy.

Kenneth A. Johnson 
Editor-in-Chief