ALTERNATIVES TO THE USE OF ANIMALS IN RESEARCH

As indicated the Institutional Animal Care & Use Committee (IACUC) Application, "Rationale and Alternatives to the Use of Animals," the USDA requires that investigators proposing animal research must first determine, and specify by name at least two sources or databases that have been used in this determination, the following:

1. That the proposed research is not duplicative of research which has already been done;

2. That alternatives to research using animals are not appropriate; and

3. That for all Category D and Category E studies, alternatives to the use of procedures that may cause more than momentary or slight pain or distress are not appropriate or available.

Some recommended sources are (see also: IACUC Guideline: Alternative to Ascites Monoclonal Antibody Production ):

• AnimalWelfare Information Center
• BioMedNet Mouse Knockout & Mutation Database
• EMBASE
• National Agricultural Library AGRICOLA Article Citation Database
• National Library of Medicine - NLM's Databases & Electronic Information Sources (includes MEDLINE)
• PubMed - National Library of Medicine
• University of California, Davis, Center for Animal Alternatives