Ethical Oversight for Insect Research

In this article, we present a high-level argument for ethical oversight for insect research. There is a realistic possibility that insects are sentient, and when there is a realistic possibility that an animal is sentient, we have a responsibility to consider welfare risks for them when making decisions that affect them. We also present high-level recommendations for how to achieve this goal. In addition to taking the issue seriously in general, researchers can develop methods for assessing welfare risks for insects, and we can also develop policies and procedures for making ethical decisions about insect research; these methods, policies, and procedures can be adapted from other kinds of animal research without being identical to them.