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June 2000 News
IACUC Handbook Now Available
June 21, 2000
Institutional Animal Care and Use Committees, or IACUCs, hold primary responsibility for overseeing animal welfare in the majority of biomedical research facilities in the United States. Now the IACUC Handbook, edited by Jerald Silverman, Mark A. Suckow, and Sreekant Murthy (CRC Press), provides "best practices" and professional guidance to the committee members who grapple with the often complex issues involved in this process.
The book is intended as a practical guide for IACUC members. It uses a question-and-answer format to address the problems and concerns often confronting IACUCs. The answers take three forms: citations from pertinent sections of federal regulations governing laboratory animal care; the opinions of knowledgeable and experienced professionals in the field; and responses to informal surveys on selected institutional policies and practices. The surveys results, while not scientific, do serve as examples of the approaches institutions have taken to resolve certain issues.
The book's chapters not only cover the structure and responsibilities of the IACUC, they also take on such issues as pain and distress, euthanasia, occupational health and safety, laboratory animal enrichment, and animal mistreatment and protocol noncompliance. Questions range from "What justifications for animal use are considered appropriate?" to "How can an IACUC be assured that an investigator has considered and rejected the existence and use of alternatives?" to "Who is responsible for assuring that research and animal care personnel working with animals are adequately trained?"
IACUCs stem from a 1985 amendment to the Animal Welfare Act (AWA) that requires each registered research institution to appoint an Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee. An IACUC must consist of three or more members, at least one of whom must be a veterinarian and at least one of whom must not be in any way affiliated with the facility. This committee is responsible for making sure the facility is in full compliance with the AWA. Its members review protocols describing any proposed animal research to be carried out at the institution, and they perform at least semiannual inspections of its animal facilities. They also are responsible for ensuring that researchers make an appropriate search for alternatives to any procedures that may cause more than momentary pain or distress to the research animals.
The role of the IACUC undoubtedly will continue to evolve and expand, given both the ongoing development of alternative methods and the explosive growth of such biomedical technologies as transgenics. The IACUC Handbook can help provide a solid foundation to those working to carry out the many and varied responsibilities of this committee.