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Order - Animal Care and Use Update
Note:
This memo was sent to the entire WSU Research and Teaching Community
involved in the use of animals.
Memorandum
Date:
January 8, 2002
To:
WSU Animal Research Community
From:
George A. Hedge - Vice Provost for Research
Subject:
Animal Care and Use Update
Those
of you who have been working with animals in your research and teaching
activities for more than a decade or two will recall a simpler time
regarding these activities. You will also recognize that the Federal
regulatory climate has changed steadily since then regarding animal
use (as well as other research-related activities).
All
of our care and use of animals at WSU is regulated by guidelines
from the USPHS and USDA. Like most other research universities,
we rely on the Association for Assessment and Accreditation of Laboratory
Animal Care - International (AAALAC) to assist us in ensuring that
we are in compliance, both as an institution and as individual investigators.
AAALAC also assists us in maintaining a positive public image which
facilitates our research and teaching endeavors.
Our
Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC) is a committee
of your peers that is responsible for approving all activities involving
animals, before the work begins. This is a federally mandated committee
that is appointed by the President, but it does not report to the
President, or to me, or to the Attending Veterinarian. It is in
fact quite autonomous, as are the other presidential committees
concerned with federal research compliance. The members of our IACUC
devote a tremendous amount of time and energy to this important
job under the leadership of its current chair from the College
of Veterinary
Medicine .
The
second entity we have for assisting you is our campus Attending
Veterinarian and her team of associates. While her responsibilities
are multiple, her role in assuring compliance is performed in close
concert with the IACUC. She, or her alternate, the Assistant Director
of the Laboratory Animal
Resource
Center*
, provides expert veterinary
assessment of each protocol as part of the IACUC approval process.
The
IACUC and the Attending Veterinarian also have joint responsibility
for assuring that our daily work with animals is consistent with
what was approved in the protocols. They are required to perform
periodic inspections and to file reports of their findings. In fact,
the IACUC has the authority and the responsibility to suspend any
activities that are not in compliance, or that raise concerns about
the welfare of the animals involved. As an expedient measure, the
Attending Veterinarian can also suspend such activities on the basis
of animal welfare until the IACUC can be assembled to review and
act on the situation.
Perhaps
it goes without saying that even though the IACUC and the Attending
Veterinarian can do much to assist you, it is still you as the principal
investigator who is ultimately responsible for the welfare of your
animals. Your responsibilities include timely and complete protocol
preparation, reporting any sick or dead animals to LARC*, and understanding
that the rules of Federal compliance, and their interpretation,
undergo change from time to time. Because of their responsibilities,
the IACUC and the Attending Veterinarian generally stay more current
on these rules than most investigators do, and therefore they are
well prepared to assist you.
You
may be aware that our most recent AAALAC site visitors left with
enough concerns that we were placed on probationary accreditation.
With the assistance of our recent interim provost, we have implemented
a three-pronged response, each of which involves additional personnel;
1)
Enhanced Staff Support for Animal Care and Use Program
Beginning
August 20, 2001 ,
we hired a new IACUC Program Coordinator to provide administrative
staff support for our IACUC. As planned, this person is fulfilling
this function within our Office of Grant and Research Development
which oversees the parallel staff support activities of our other
Federal compliance committees. This transfer of staff support activity
now allows the Attending Veterinarian's team to devote the required
attention to improving other aspects of our veterinary care program,
including implementing our animal tracking system.
2)
Occupational Health and Safety Program
Our
search for a new Industrial Hygienist II has been completed, and
a new full-time Industrial Hygienist II began work November
19, 2001 . This person's appointment
is within the Environmental Health and Safety Department, but is
also working directly with the Attending Veterinarian given his
responsibilities in the area of occupational safety in our animal
care and use activities. Early in 2002, he will begin a full risk
assessment across the campus and, in concert with the EH&S Department,
will design and implement any corrective actions that might be necessary.
This will require visits to our animal laboratories and facilities,
and I'm asking in advance for your cooperation in accommodating
these visits.
3)
Increased Veterinary Care Capabilities
As
many of you already know, we have completed our search for an Assistant
Director of our Animal Care and Use Program and have appointed a
full-time veterinarian to this position beginning October
1, 2001 . The search committee
for our third (new) Clinical Veterinarian Position has completed
its task, but the hiring process is not yet complete. Meanwhile,
we continue to retain the part-time services of both a veterinarian
and an additional veterinary technician. As these personnel learn
more about WSU and its investigators, the ability of the LARC* staff
to support your work should be greatly enhanced.
I
apologize for the length of this message, but I think you can see
that the issues are important, a lot has happened recently, and
we have progress to report. I look forward to your continuing cooperation
as we all work to assure your compliance and success in the research
and teaching activities that require animals.
*
The LARC unit has been renamed to the Office of the Campus Veterinarian.
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