From his first lecture at Great Eastern University, Dr. Sam Roth quickly became a favorite teacher and student advisor. Now, as a full professor and director of the herpetology teaching laboratory, he was beloved by the entire university community—except for the IACUC. Roth, who was past the age when most people have retired, had no grant funding and minimal financial support from the university. To compensate, he placed as many animals as he could into the least amount of space that he felt was appropriate for the species being kept. In the opinion of the school's veterinarians, however, Roth's animals seemed to have more health problems compared with reptiles and amphibians in laboratories at other universities. They believed the problems were largely caused by overcrowding.

For a while, Roth was able to sidestep the IACUC's request to provide more space for his animals by citing his own experience as a herpetologist and noting that the Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals (the Guide)1 had no space recommendations for the species he used for teaching and that the Animal Welfare Act regulations2 were not applicable to his animals. But now, with a new version of the Guide3 that put more emphasis on performance standards, and with the Association for Assessment and Accreditation of Laboratory Animal Care International suggesting that current European space recommendations for reptiles and amphibians could be helpful guides for American IACUCs4,5, the Great Eastern IACUC became emboldened and demanded that Roth follow the European requirements for housing space when such requirements existed for species at Great Eastern. Roth countered that the IACUC was a federally mandated committee that was required to operate under US regulations and it had no authority to impose European requirements on Great Eastern University. He also challenged the veterinarians to provide documentation that the space he provided for his animals was contributing to health problems and to prove that the animals had any more problems than were seen in other schools. The veterinarians were understandably reluctant to drag other academic institutions and colleagues into a local dispute.

Under existing federal regulations and policies, does the Great Eastern IACUC or the Attending Veterinarian have the authority to establish minimum space standards for Roth's animals? How would you resolve this problem?

Response to Protocol Review Scenario: IACUC recommends, IO approves

Response to Protocol Review Scenario: Performance standards for housing

Response to Protocol Review Scenario: US regulations are the minimum