Octopuses used in research could receive same protections as monkeys

For the first time in the United States, research with cephalopods might require approval by an ethics committee.

15 September 2023
Sara Reardon

Cephalopods such as octopuses and squid could soon receive the same legal protection as mice and monkeys do when they are used in research. On 7 September, the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) asked for feedback on proposed guidelines that, for the first time in the United States, would require research projects involving cephalopods to be approved by an ethics board before receiving federal funding.

“A growing body of evidence demonstrates that cephalopods possess many of the requisite biological mechanisms for the perception of pain,” the NIH wrote on its website. Furthermore, cephalopods have advanced learning and cognitive abilities, and seem to respond to anaesthesia in a similar way to mammals, it said. But the agency noted that because cephalopod brains are so different from those of mammals, defining what ethical research should look like will require further study.

The US Public Health Service (PHS) sets guidelines for the use of animals in science for both the NIH and the National Science Foundation, defining animals as any vertebrate. Before a research project receives federal funds, scientists must obtain approval from their institutions’ ethics boards, which evaluate protocols to ensure compliance with PHS standards.

A welcome move

But there are no such restrictions around the humane treatment of invertebrates — animals with no backbone that include insects, worms and cephalopods. Late last year, members of the US House of Representatives and US Senate sent letters to the NIH and PHS, asking that research policies redefine ‘animal’ to include cephalopods. The amendment now proposed by the NIH would require institutions’ ethics committees to evaluate cephalopod research.

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