Understanding Humane Animal Care and Use

Find information on animal care and use in laboratory settings, the 3Rs, and animal use ethics.

Animal Care and Use in Laboratory Settings

• NIH Office of Laboratory Animal Welfare (OLAW): the definitive NIH website of humane animal care and use
• What investigators need to know about the use of animals: a concise summary of the responsibilities of NIH-funded investigators who use animal subjects.
• OLAW’s PHS Policy on Humane Care and Use of Laboratory Animals Tutorial is for new animal care and use committee members, institutional administrators, investigators, animal care personnel, veterinarians, or others who are interested in learning about the PHS Policy on Humane Care and Use of Laboratory Animals.
• OLAW’s National Animal Welfare Education Program supports workshops, conferences and IACUC education.
• OLAW IACUC Staff Outreach is a free online seminar series to help Institutional Animal Care and Use (IACUC) staff explore their responsibilities in the oversight of PHS-funded research that involves the use of live vertebrate animals.
• The Animal Welfare Information Center (AWIC) provides a workshop on Meeting the Information Requirements of the Animal Welfare Act for IACUC members, Principle Investigators and others involved in the care and use of research animals.
• IACUC-Advanced training for IACUC members can find training symposiums sponsored by the Scientists Center for Animal Welfare (SCAW) to understand the Animal Welfare Act, protocol review and faculty inspections.
• Public Responsibility in Medicine and Research (PRIM&R) periodically offers a program on the Essentials of IACUC Administration for administrators and support staff, as well as training and compliance personnel, with an overview of how to effectively manage an animal care and use program, as well as other educational programs to improve animal care and use.
• The Institute for Laboratory Animal Research (ILAR) sponsors conferences and symposiums that center around the scientific and humane use of animals in research.
• The American Association for Laboratory Animal Science (AALAS) Learning Library offers a variety of free, on-line animal care and use courses on regulatory and IACUC compliance.

The 3Rs: Reduction, Refinement and Replacement in the Laboratory Setting

• OLAW’s Useful Links on Alternatives
• The NTP Interagency Center for the Evaluation of Alternative Toxicological Methods (NICEATM) and the Interagency Coordinating Committee on the Validation of Alternative Methods (ICCVAM) hold NICEATM-ICCVAM meetings and workshops which focus on using alternative models in toxicology testing.
• The NIH provides a video of a presentation on the Management of Environmental Enrichment and Animal Behavior in Biomedical Research.
• The Center for Alternatives to Animal Testing of the Johns Hopkins University provides a free, on-line series of lectures on Enhancing Humane Science – Improving Animal Research.

Animal Use Ethics

• U.S. Government Principles for the Utilization and Care of Vertebrate Animals Used in Testing, Research, and Training: “Whenever U.S. Government agencies develop requirements for testing, research, or training procedures involving the use of vertebrate animals, the following principles shall be considered; and whenever these agencies actually perform or sponsor such procedures, the responsible Institutional Official shall ensure that these principles are adhered to.”
• International Guiding Principles for Biomedical Research Involving Animals of the Council for International Organizations of Medical Sciences (CIOMS)
• NASA Principles for the Ethical Care and Use of Animals
• The Animal Welfare Information Center (AWIC) provides information on improving animal care and use in research, testing, teaching and exhibition.
• The Office of Research Integrity (ORI) of the US Department of Health and Human Services sponsors a tutorial on Contemporary Science, Values and Animal Subjects in Research.
• Resources for Research Ethics Education includes a module on animal subjects, and was developed with support from ORI and NIH.
• The NIH Bioethics Resources on the Web provides links to a variety of resources on the ethics of Laboratory animal care and use.