Of Mice and Men: What's the right balance?

New NIH guidelines on how much living space lab mice require are coming under fire:

http://www.npr.org/2012/01/16/145172737/labs-size-up-new-guidelines-for-rodent-cages

Image: Karen Shaw / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Meanwhile, some 650,000 people were homeless in America in 2009:

http://www.endhomelessness.org/content/article/detail/3668

Deaths continue from cancer, for example --- especially amongt he least well-educated and affluent ---
http://www.cancer.org/Cancer/news/News/annualreport-u.s-cancer-death-rates-decline-but-disparities-remain

But new regs and guidelines could redirect medical research money into improved housing for the lab animals, according to a JOhns Hopkins animal-facility manager interviewed in the NPR story this morning. An NIH spokesman seemed to say otherwise. Let's hope the latter's interpretation of the the new rules is the right one.