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Institutional Animal
Care and Use Program
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Background
A fundamental purpose of
the federal regulations and ethical guidance governing
humane use of animals is the minimization of animal
pain and distress via the consideration of
- Alternatives to the use of live animals
- Alternatives to the use of painful or distressful
procedures in live animals
- Avoidance of unnecessary duplication of procedures
involving animals
Requirements for Documentation
Federal regulations require
that all protocol applications provide written documentation
of the search for alternatives, including a written
narrative description of the methods and sources used
to consider alternatives to procedures that may cause
more than momentary or slight pain or distress to the
animals; and the written assurance that the activities
do not unnecessarily duplicate previous experiments.
Researcher must provide
- Names of the databases that were searched
- Most recent date that the database search was performed
- Time period (in years) covered by the search
- The keywords used in the search. These search terms
must be representative of the model and methods proposed
in the protocol.
- If a database search is not the primary means of
considering alternatives, sufficient documentation
must be provided to demonstrate the expert's knowledge
of the availability of alternatives in the specific
field of study. At minimum, the consultant's name
and qualifications and the date and content of the
consult must be listed in the protocol application.
The IACUC will review this
information to assess that a reasonable and good faith
effort was made to determine the availability of alternatives
or alternative methods.
Alternatives Search
Websites
UCI
Libraries Animal Alternatives Database Search Techniques
website [Sample searches for common procedures performed
in rodents are also available].
Johns
Hopkins Center for Alternatives to Animal Testing
(JHCAAT)
University
of California Center for Animal Alternatives (UCCAA)
USDA
Animal Welfare Information Center - Alternatives & Searches
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