IACUC.org is now IACUC Central, a comprehensive repository for all things IACUC. IACUC Central is a valuable resource for institutional animal care and use committee members and staff. Updated quarterly, IACUC Central organizes information into pages containing links to governmental agencies, databases, examples of institutional websites, training resources, and more.
NEWS
PREPARE and ARRIVE Guidelines
Best Practices Meeting
The IACUC Administrators Association (IAA)
- Fairbanks, AK Best Practice Meeting, July 17th, 2018
- For additional information, email wggreer@UMich.edu
National Meeting
69th AALAS National Meeting
- October 28 – November 1, 2018
- Baltimore, Maryland
- Many presentations on topics of interest to IACUC members, including:
- Are Times Changing in the Animal Research Oversight Environment?
- Efforts to Increase Research Transparency in the U.S.
- IACUC Protocol Review Challenges
Workshops
IACUC 101 Series Office of Laboratory Animal Welfare (OLAW) - Workshops provide information about the role and responsibilities of an IACUC and federal policies and regulations governing the welfare of animals in laboratories. The program includes scenarios at each level so that participants can practice what they have learned in each course. See the schedule for dates and locations.
- August 1-2, 2018; Portland, Maine
- November 7-9, 2018; Delray Beach, Florida
Interagency Collaborative Animal Research Education (ICARE) Project
- 2018 ICARE Project Flyer
- ICARE Academy - Training for IACUC members, staff, and institutional animal program personnel on meeting responsibilities for animal welfare oversight.
- September 12-13, 2018; TBD
SCAW IACUC Training Workshop - The Scientists Center for Animal Welfare (SCAW) - Workshop format includes small group discussions.
- September 28, 2018; New York, NY
Disaster Resilience
"Strengthening the Disaster Resilience of the Academic Biomedical Research Community"
- A published report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM)
- How the academic biomedical research community can take action to mitigate the impact of future disasters
- Report available from:
- Webinar
Reduction of Regulatory Burden
21st Century Cures Act: NIH, USDA, and FDA are conducting a review of applicable regulations and policies for the care and use of laboratory animals and will make revisions, as appropriate, to reduce administrative burden on investigators.
USDA Considers Recognition of Third-Party Inspections
USDA Animal Care: The USDA recently considered recognizing animal welfare inspections by third-party accrediting organizations, such as AAALAC, in order to focus on increasing the frequency of visits to research facilities with known compliance issues. In January 2018, the USDA invited the public to submit written comments on this idea. They received over 35,500 comments; the majority who responded were against the proposal due to concern over the agency's ability to maintain responsibility for inspections and compliance with the Animal Welfare Act. The USDA has ruled out third-party inspections, but does plan to use a risk-based inspection system to determine how often a facility is inspected and the use of "announced inspections."
USDA Regulatory Reform Initiatives
USDA notice in Federal Register: The USDA has asked the public to submit comments on reforming regulations or documents to ease access to their programs while reducing costs, providing better customer service, and avoiding job elimination or the inhibition of job creation.
The comments will be accepted in four batches during a one year period. Comments may be submitted electronically, by mail, hand delivery, or courier. The specification - “Identifying Regulatory Reform Initiatives” - should be included in each submission.
LAST Batch Submission Deadline:
USDA Statistics
In April 2017, the USDA released Animal Welfare inspection reports conducted between January 10 and March 24, 2017 that had been restricted to the public since February 3, 2017 but in a redacted, less user-friendly form. On March, 21, 2018, Congress released a report telling the USDA to make the database more transparent and complete. For more information read this article in Science.
USDA Tech Notes
In December 2017, the USDA released two publications to support their USDA Animal Care Strategic Plan for 2016-2020. These publications are for Animal Welfare Act licensees and registrants and are guidance documents called Tech Notes. The first Tech Note describes a new incentive program to recognize those who monitor activities and take appropriate action to address compliance issues. The second Tech Note provides information on daily health assessments of the animals.
USDA 2017 Accomplishments
USDA Animal Care increased it's focus on customer service and efficiency in 2017 and to highlight their accomplishments, they have published an accomplishment report (PDF) and a poster (PDF) to share the postive results of their efforts. USDA APHIS recently posted the Annual Report Animal Usage by Fiscal Year, 2015 (PDF). A summary analysis of the 2014 data was provided by Speaking of Research.
