July 1998 News

ILAR Report Recommends A New Approach to Paying for Lab Animals

July 6, 1998

The Institute for Laboratory Animal Research (ILAR), a constituent of the National Research Council and National Academy of Sciences, recently released a report on animal cost policy that could lead to changes in how costs for animal research are assigned--and to more effective, economical, and humane animal care.

Scientists and representatives of U.S. regulatory agencies met at the end of June to discuss the report, "Approaches to Cost Recovery for Animal Research: Implications for Science, Animals, Research Competitiveness, and Regulatory Compliance."

The report examines the arguments for and against assigning overhead costs of an animal research facility to the institutional indirect cost pool. Currently, costs related to animal care are assigned to indirect costs only when the animals are housed in an investigator's own laboratory, rather than an animal research facility.

Although the issue is important to many scientists concerned about making ends meet financially, it is also important for its animal welfare implications. As federal law is currently interpreted, it often is cheaper for a scientist to forgo using an animal research facility. Yet many individuals have questioned whether animals receive the same quality of care in individual labs that may lack the staff, training, expertise, or environmental advantages of animal facilities.

The full report is available online via the ILAR homepage here.