Students Opposed to Cruel Animal Testing (SOCRATES) was an active animal rights group on the Great Eastern University campus. This year, instead of having its usual campus march and fundraiser, the group decided to challenge the work of the school's IACUC. The group reasoned that this would bring attention to its cause through the student newspaper, gain the attention of the faculty, and (it hoped) attract the general news media. Seeking help, SOCRATES turned to the newly instituted Animal Rights Clinic in the School of Law. After reviewing the Animal Welfare Act (AWA) regulations and the Public Health Service Policy on Humane Care and Use of Laboratory Animals (PHS Policy), the parties involved decided to challenge the IACUC based on the section describing the composition of the IACUC.
Great Eastern's IACUC had seven members. The Committee's Chair was a scientist who used mice in his research. The Attending Veterinarian (AV) lacked board certification in laboratory animal medicine but had many years of appropriate experience. The unaffiliated member was a retired local real estate lawyer who had no previous background in biomedical research or animal use issues. There were three other scientists who used animals in their research, but like most of the other members they had no significant experience with assessing an animal care and use program other than those aspects that affected their own needs. A financial administrator with no prior animal care and use experience rounded out the Committee as the member whose “primary concerns are in a nonscientific area,” according to PHS Policy. The financial administrator and one of the scientists were new to the IACUC, while the other members each had at least a full year of IACUC experience. The training program for new members included receiving a copy of the pertinent federal regulations and policies, meeting with the Chairperson to discuss the IACUC's functions, watching the Committee operate for one full meeting before being assigned any protocols, and watching the 2-hour educational video provided to all persons who were to use animals in research.
SOCRATES began its campaign. It informed the media, the US Department of Agriculture, the PHS, and the University administration that the Great Eastern IACUC was not compliant with the AWA regulations and PHS Policy because the membership was not “qualified through the experience and expertise of its members to assess the research facility's animal program, facilities, and procedures.” The group cited the background of the IACUC members, most of whom, they claimed, knew nearly nothing about evaluating an animal program, facilities, or procedures. They claimed that the training program was completely inadequate, but even the most exemplary training programs they knew of could not create the required experience and expertise, which (they said) implied knowledge and proficiency that could only be learned over time. Finally, they claimed that the federal government was in complicity with the “vivisectionists” because it would be nearly impossible to have an IACUC with all of its members fulfilling the requirement of being qualified through experience and expertise.
These claims were ripe fodder for the media, which demanded a response from the school. Do the allegations made by SOCRATES have any substance? How might Great Eastern University, or any other institution, respond to this situation?
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Silverman, J. Questioning IACUC Composition: Is SOCRATES' Reasoning Correct?. Lab Anim 34, 17 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1038/laban0305-17a
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/laban0305-17a
