The APS Animal Care and Experimentation (ACE) Committee met in Bethesda November 28-29, 2006 to establish priorities for the coming year. Regulatory red tape and the possibility of inappropriate legislative restrictions on the use of animals in research emerged as the areas where the Committee believed it could have the greatest impact. One initiative that emerged from this meeting was an APS letter to NIH Deputy Director for Extramural Affairs, Norka Ruiz Bravo, concerning confusing and contradictory guidance that has been issued by the Office of Laboratory Animal Welfare (OLAW) concerning compliance with the PHS Policy on Humane Care and Use of Animals. The APS urged NIH to be more open to input from the research community in terms of the practical implications of its guidance documents. As a result of the exchange of letters that took place, the ACE Committee has invited Patricia Brown, the new Director of OLAW, to its fall 2007 meeting.
There have been a number of legislative initiatives in 2007 that would make it difficult or impossible for researchers to obtain non-purpose bred dogs or cats for medical research. Such restrictions are ostensibly offered out of concern that lost or stolen pets are ending up in research laboratories. The ACE Committee and the APS Office of Science Policy (formerly the Office of Public Affairs) have been working to provide information to Members of Congress on the existing pet protection provisions of the Animal Welfare Act, as well as on the reasons why non-purpose bred animals are needed, particularly for translational and pre-clinical research. APS has collected a number of specific examples where non-purpose bred dogs or cats offer the best representation of the human patient population. These include research in areas such as heart failure, cardiac arrhythmias, hypertension, digestive diseases, Type 2 diabetes, insulin resistance, metabolic syndrome, and breathing disorders. In June, the Senate Appropriations Committee agreed to include language in the report accompanying the FY 2008 funding legislation asking NIH to report on the need for non-purpose bred dogs and cats in biomedical research, the frequency with which such animals are used in NIH-funded research and to "propose recommendations outlining the parameters of such use, if determined to be necessary."
The ACE Committee sponsored a symposium at EB 2007 entitled, "Alternatives to Animal Experimentation Revisited." The goal of the symposium was to explore that notion that good science often requires an interplay rather than a substitution of animal and non-animal models. Linda Toth chaired the session and provided an overview of this perspective. The other speakers were Mark Knepper from the NIH National Heart Lung Blood Institute, and Joseph Bielitzki of Inventure Holdings.
In 2006 the APS launched a partnership with the States United for Biomedical Research (SUBR) to develop public outreach training for physiologists. SUBR (www.statesforbiomed.org/) is a network of not-for-profit organizations throughout the country that is working to promote better public understanding and to increase appreciation for the value of biomedical research, including the humane care and use of research animals. SUBR conducted advocacy training workshops at the Univ. of Iowa (November 2006) and the Univ. of Pennsylvania (March 2007). The goal of these programs was to motivate and equip scientists with the training and support necessary to speak publicly about their research and the important role of animals in research, education and testing. The final assessment was that one-day workshops do not seem to provide sufficient information and skills training to support self-sustaining advocacy efforts.
In the coming year, the ACE Committee will continue to monitor emerging legislative and regulatory issues that may have an impact on animal research.
Timothy I. Musch, Chair
Animal Care and Experimentation Committee
-
Council approved having the Public Affairs and Animal Care and Experimentation Committees jointly write a letter to Norka Ruiz Bravo, Deputy Director for Extramural Research, NIH regarding NIH peer review and study section policies.
-
Council approved the necessary funding to improve the effectiveness of APS advocacy on animal research issues by increasing scientists' participation in the animal welfare conferences.
-
Council approved increasing APS' contribution to SUBR from to $10,000 in 2008, and approved an increase of APS' annual contribution to the Foundation for Biomedical Research to $2,500.