All research
with laboratory animals is to comply with the "Animal Welfare
Act" and the applicable state regulations covering the
care and use of animals. All protocols involving the use of
animals must be reviewed and approved by the Animal Welfare
Committee. All PIs planning to use animals must complete the
form called Animal Involvement in the Animal Care Facility (ACF)
for review and approval prior to final approval of the protocol.
The PI must notify the ACF in writing prior to initiation of
experimentation and post a copy of the Animal Involvement form
at a location specified by the ACF staff.
The use of experimental animals and insects poses
special problems. Animals can harbor infectious organisms
which are acquired naturally (i.e., rabies virus, herpes B
virus),. These infections can give rise to a chronic
carrier state, or the agent might persist in a latent non-infective
form that can be reactivated periodically or as a result of
certain stimuli, such as stress. Since the possibility
that an agent could be present and excreted by an animal
during the course of an experiment cannot be excluded, all
those animals should be kept at a containment level appropriate
to the risk.
Animals may also be deliberately inoculated with
microorganisms in each of the four risk groups or with viable
materials (i.e. transformed cells) suspected of containing
these organisms. Under these circumstances, the animal
should be kept at the containment level appropriate to the
risk of the organism, recognizing that, in some cases, the
introduction of an infectious agent into an animal may actually
increase that risk.
GENE THERAPY (ANIMAL)
All protocols involving the generation of recombinant
DNA for animal gene therapy must be approved locally by the
IBC and the Animal Welfare Committee, prior to submission
to outside agencies and the initiation of experimentation.
For more details about IBC approval of animal gene therapy
projects, please contact the Biosafety Officer ext. 6218.
For information about gene therapy protocols, please call
the Administrator of the AWC at ext. 5507.
TRANSGENIC ANIMALS
Since a transgenic mouse is product of recombining DNA from
different sources, PIs who create transgenic animals must
register their experiment with the IBC for approval prior
to initiation of experimentation. In addition, the Human and
Animal Regulatory Committee must approve the protocol. The
HARC can be reached at ext. 5507.
In all situations, it is the responsibility of the researcher
and the HARC (in consultation with the Biosafety Officer)
to determine the risk levels inherent in the proposed activity.
REGISTRATION
