There have been a number of changes in the legal regulations controlling the use of animals in biomedical research institutes in the United States of America. A short summary-booklet has been written by Robert R Smeby and published in February 1994 by the Scientists Center for Animal Welfare (SCAW), and is a useful and reasonably detailed account of the current statutory requirements. The summary cannot be used as a replacement to the complete regulations as published in the Federal Register but it will still be found most helpful by scientists, research animal care personnel and by others wanting or needing to know something of the details of the regulations covering laboratory animal care and use in the United States.