IACUC Learning Module - Laws & Regulations

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CONCEPT AND METHODS TO LIMIT ANIMAL USE

The underlying theme of legislation involving research animals is the need to reduce the numbers of animals used in research, and to minimize the discomfort of those animals which are used:

1. Unnecessary duplication of research should be avoided for scientific and ethical reasons. Replication of experiments may be reasonable, but the investigator must provide sufficient information to justify why an experiment needs to be repeated.

2. The number of animals should be the minimum necessary to produce valid results and the investigator must clearly present to the IACUC the method whereby the number of requested animals was calculated. (It may be helpful if proposals are reviewed by a statistician before they are submitted to the IACUC).

3. When appropriate, a non-animal substitute should be used, or a species of "lower" order (e.g. using a frog instead of a rat or, a rat instead of a dog).

Although a living organism is the appropriate model for many projects, each investigator is required to consider the use of non-living, or alternative model systems.

• example: There is a computer program which allows the operator to select a particular venous return, in return, the heart rate and stroke volume will then change. This program models the Starling law of the heart.

UTILIZATION OF SERVICES:

1. to be assured that the project is not unintentionally duplicating another project;

2. to provide a scientific basis for the choice of the model;

3. to be assured that a non-living alternative model does not exist. Although there are many sources which may be consulted, the following are specifically designed to provide alternatives to the use of live animals and methods to reduce pain and distress:

    

   • A. Animal Welfare Information Center, National Agricultural Library, Room 304, Beltsville, MD 20705 (301 344-3212). The publication Animal Welfare Information Center Scope Notes for Indexes outlines available subject areas. The NAL provides computerized bibliographic retrieval service through its in-house database AGRICOLA.

   • B. The Johns Hopkins Center for Alternatives to Animal Testing affiliated with Johns Hopkins University School of Hygiene and Public Health, Baltimore, MD 21205 (301 955-3343). Publishes a newsletter on techniques to reduce the numbers of animals in product safety testing.

   • C. National Library of Medicine, Coordinator of Veterinary Affairs, Bethesda, MD 20892 (301 496-6308). Publishes Current Bibliographies in Medicine, including those dealing with pain, anesthesia, and analgesia in animals; care and use of animals; and laboratory animal welfare.

PROPER USE OF ANESTHETICS, ANALGESICS, and TRANQUILIZERS:

The rule is that if something causes pain in humans, the same stimulus is considered to cause pain in an animal. Therefore, the investigator must provide justification for any procedure which is likely to cause pain in a human.

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