About | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline
LOG IN
LOG IN

30 Animal Welfare Inst. Q. 1 (1981-1982)

handle is hein.animal/awiqu0030 and id is 1 raw text is: INFORMATION REPORT ANIMAL WELFARE INSTITUTE P.O. Box 3650 Washington, D.C. 20007 Spring 1981 Vol. 30, No. 1 NIH symposium examines alternatives to animal testing Laboratory animals: a turning point? Trends in Bioassay Methodology in vivo, in vitro, and Mathemat- ical Approaches. This title of a 3-day symposium sponsored by the National Institutes of Health may not exactly set the pulses racing but what the meeting was concerned with was ways of reducing dependency on live animals in the testing of products. And what emerged during these three days in February was cer- tainly exciting and just might prove a turning point. The citadel of animal testing was roundly assailed by a host of scientists armed with the highest credentials. Those under attack- representatives of the chemical industry and research and testing bodies- countered that -substitutes will evolve, developments cannot be legislated, money will not buy a solution, but the citadel no longer appears impregnable. Follow-up measures are already in train. At the end of the seminar Dr William Raub, Associate Director of NIH, announced: 1) The setting up of a forum con- cerned with testing and with the ques- tions- what are we trying to measure? Why? At what cost in time, money and animal lives? The forum will include representatives of all the parties con- cerned-federal agencies, manufac- turers, labor unions, advocates of rights of animals, of consumer protec- tion and of safety in the work place. 2) The recommendation that re- search and regulatory agencies focus their attention on the three Rs- replacement, reduction and refine- ment. 3) The request by NIH that existing guidelines on the treatment of (in par- ticular) chimpanzees be modelled on the treatment of human subjects in experiments-in line with the new biology adumbrated by Dr Prince dur- ing the seminar. The thread of life as captured in DNA is showing a pro- found similarity in all life forms said Dr Raub. Ten years from now our views on ethics will be labelled biologi- cally naive. Salient points Scientific, humane, economic and legislative factors were all amply cover- ed during the seminar. In his opening remarks Congressman George Brown (D., Ca.) said that while respect for life is on the increase, pieces of legislation that purport to set policy don't neces- sarily solve the problem too well. In response to a question by Henry Spira the Congressman said he would be pleased if the conference would re- commend appropriations for a pro- gram to pursue the valid goal of al- ternatives to animal testing. Dr Victor Morganroth of the Food and Drug Administration is Chairman of the government Interagency Regu- latory Liaison Group which has work- ed for four years to harmonize the maze of regulations issued by different agencies. In this regulatory night- mare the agencies sometimes call for the same animal tests resulting in an enormous waste of animal re- sources. Noting that to repeat the Draize eye test on six animals costs from $15,000 to $18,000, Dr Morgan- roth said, Once you put a procedure down on paper it tends to go on for ever. Our committee is trying to adopt the draft guidelines of the Organization for European Community Develop- ment. OECD recommends that: a local anesthetic be given when a sub- stance might cause pain; a known cor- rosive or strong irritant not be tested in rabbits' eyes; three animals be used in Continued page 8 The Draize test- a rabbit's eye before irritant testing, and then afterwards. /I

What Is HeinOnline?

HeinOnline is a subscription-based resource containing thousands of academic and legal journals from inception; complete coverage of government documents such as U.S. Statutes at Large, U.S. Code, Federal Register, Code of Federal Regulations, U.S. Reports, and much more. Documents are image-based, fully searchable PDFs with the authority of print combined with the accessibility of a user-friendly and powerful database. For more information, request a quote or trial for your organization below.



Contact us for annual subscription options:

Contact Us

Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?

Log In

profiles profiles most