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IACUC and Animal Welfare Resources: Searching For Alternatives
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Legal Requirements for Alternative Searching
Under section 2143 of the Animal Welfare Act (AWA), the "principal investigator" must consider alternatives to potentially painful and distressing procedures in "an experimental animal" prior to initiating the research.
Source: Animal Welfare Act and Animal Welfare Regulations, US Department of Agriculture
- Policy #11: "Panful and Distressful Procedures"The USDA defines a painful procedure as "any procedure that would reasonably be expected to cause more than slight or momentary pain and/or distress in a human being to which that procedure is applied."
- Policy 12: "Consideration of Alternatives to Painful/Distressful Procedures"In order to comply with section 2143 of the Animal Welfare Act, the USDA cites the use of databases as the most effective method in determining alternatives.
Why Search for Alternatives?
The principal investigator is responsible for providing the IACUCs with written evidence that the literature was searched for all possible alternative procedures in an effort to minimize potentially painful and distressing procedures. Researchers have a legal responsibility to document the following:
- The databases used
- The search strategy
- Dates and timeline of the search
Research Planning and Publishing
The following resources are a series of guidelines that aid researchers in the preparation and reporting of research involving animals.
- Alternatives Literature Searching Worksheet (USDA)This worksheet is designed to help individuals during the initial phase of an alternatives
literature search by identifying the information needed to successfully develop a search strategy and run a multi-database literature search for alternatives. - Literature Searching: How to Find Animal Use Alternatives (USDA)This page provides a detail overview of the literature search process for locating animal use alternatives.
- 3R's Alternatives Literature Search Brochure (USDA)This brochure provides a brief overview on the literature search process.
- PREPARE GuidelinesA set of guidelines that aids researchers in preparing experiments with the involvement of animals
- ARRIVE GuidelinesThe ARRIVE guidelines are a checklist of recommendations to improve the reporting of research involving animals
Additional Resources
- Animal Welfare Information Center (AWIC)AWIC provides information, products and services related to the improved care and use of animals in research, testing, and teaching as described in the Animal Welfare Act.
- Author Guide for Addressing Animal Methods Bias in Publishing by Krebs et al., (journal article)This article is a guide for authors on how to avoid and address animal methods bias from manuscript reviewers. In this article you will find information on the peer review process, manuscript preparation and submission, and study design.
- Norecopa - Norway's National Consensus Platform for the advancement of "the 3 Rs" (Replacement, Reduction, Refinement)Norecopa provides researchers with resources that promote use of the 3R's including guidelines, an alternative search database etc.