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Response to Protocol Review Scenario: Training and education

Lab Animal volume 46, pages 9–10 (2017)Cite this article

First, in order to determine if the citation should be appealed, we should ask whether the Great Eastern University IACUC considered this procedure to be euthanasia or a non-survival surgery and what USDA pain category was identified in the protocol.

The intent of this procedure was to obtain readings on an animal's heart and subsequently remove it for examination, from which the animal(s) will obviously not recover. The Great Eastern University IACUC should consider the definition of euthanasia, and whether a sternotomy performed under deep terminal anesthesia meets the intent of the definition. According to the Animal Welfare Act (§ 1.1; ref. 1), euthanasia is “accomplished by a method that produces rapid unconsciousness and subsequent death without evidence of pain or distress”. A prolonged surgical procedure that requires manipulation of an animal's tissues under anesthesia prior to euthanasia does not meet this criteria and should be classified as a non-survival surgery.

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References

  1. Animal Welfare Act Regulations, 9 CFR, Part 1.

  2. Animal Welfare Act Regulations, 9 CFR, Part 2, Subpart C.

  3. Public Health Service. Policy in Human Care and Use of Laboratory Animals (US Department of Health and Human Services, Washington, DC, 1986; amended 2002).

  4. Institute for Laboratory Animal Research. Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals 8th edn. (National Academies Press, Washington, DC, 2011).

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  1. Blakemore is the Research Integrity Programs Manager, University of California at Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA.,

    Melodie Blakemore

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  1. Melodie Blakemore
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Blakemore, M. Response to Protocol Review Scenario: Training and education. Lab Anim 46, 9–10 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1038/laban.1162

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