The Animal Care and Experimentation Committee (ACEC) is charged with overseeing all issues related to the procurement, use, and care of animals for research and teaching and advising the Council of actions to be taken or recommended. The ACEC again has been quite busy during the past year, not only dealing with ongoing concerns related to the use of animals in research and teaching, but also developing new programs that will contribute to the APS Strategic Plan. An important goal of the Strategic Plan is the development of a dynamic advocacy program to educate and inform the public, government, and other key audiences about the importance of physiology and the critical role of animal research. 

The most important ongoing issues addressed by the Committee this past year were the proposed regulation of rats, mice, and birds by the USDA and the continuing public controversies related to the use of animals in research and teaching. When President Bush signed the farm aid bill into law on May 13, 2002, he also approved a provision that permanently excludes rats, mice, and birds from USDA oversight under the Animal Welfare Act (AWA).  Senator Jesse Helms sponsored an amendment that was needed to resolve the question of whether the USDA should regulate rats, mice, and birds under the AWA. Animal activist organizations sought to block inclusion of the Helms language in the farm bill, but the research community prevailed. The National Association of Biomedical Research (NABR) provided leadership, and the APS helped mobilize other organizations. While the biomedical research community can claim victory after this long battle, it is clear that the animal rights community intends to continue the fight to interfere with biomedical research in the name of animal welfare. Therefore, APS and other research organizations must continue to develop proactive strategies to repel the efforts of animal rights activists; the development and implementation of such strategies is an ongoing ACEC project. 

The ACEC is also developing a plan for a small group of APS members to receive training as public spokespersons on controversial issues related to the use of animals in research and teaching. Speaking out on the value of what we do is essential to retaining public support for the use of animals. The ACEC media training plan is part of the overall APS strategy to uphold the use of animals in research and biomedical science education. This year, both APS Councillor J.R. Haywood and ACEC Chairman John N. Stallone participated in public radio debates on the use of animals in research and teaching. Our successes in this arena underscore the importance of APS members publicly speaking out in support of animal use in teaching and research. The ACEC training plan will enhance APS effectiveness in the public arena. 

Another successful function organized by ACEC this year was the Public Affairs Symposium held at EB 2002 in New Orleans, LA. This was a four-hour IACUC training program open to all EB attendees, entitled "Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About the IACUC but Were Afraid to Ask." The APS organized the program, which was underwritten by the NIH Office of Laboratory Animal Welfare (OLAW) with additional support provided by ASPET, AAI, ASNS, AAA, and FASEB. The goal of this course was to provide scientists with focused training to improve their performance on and interaction with IACUCs. The symposium was modeled after the "IACUC 101" program developed by a group of IACUC administrators, and included presentations by APS Councillor J.R. Haywood and ACEC Chairman John N. Stallone. Comments received from ACEC members, representatives from AAALAC, USDA, and NIH/OLAW, and the audience uniformly described the symposium as highly successful in elucidating the operation of the IACUC as well as the expectations of the regulatory agencies. Due to success of this initial effort, a similar program will be held next year at EB 2003 in San Diego, CA. 

In the coming year, the ACEC will continue to work on ongoing concerns related to the use of animals in research and teaching. The committee will also work on new projects including developing IACUC guidelines to assess pain and distress in animal models of exercise physiology, and developing a new program to provide increased research laboratory experiences for medical and veterinary students.

The committee strongly urges APS members to become involved individually by expressing their support for the use of animals in research and teaching, as well as their opposition to excessive regulatory burden, to their state and national government leaders. The use of the new APS "Legislative Action Center" in the Public Affairs pages of the APS website will greatly facilitate this process by enabling APS members to generate letters to their Senators and Representatives using the "Legislative Hot Zone" feature.

John N. Stallone, Chair

Council Actions

• Council accepted the report of the Animal Care and Experimentation Committee.

• Council authorized funds for selected APS members to receive media training on animal issues.

• Council approved a $5000 contribution to ILAR study on the need for laboratory animal veterinarians.

• Council approved a one-time $1000 donation to the ILAR study.

• Council approved having a trainee member on the Committee to be identified by the Committee on Committees.