CAAT Newsletter: Vol. 15, No. 2, Winter/Spring 1998

Guided Tour of Altweb

The Altweb Project Team is responsible, together with the Website Editor and Website Manager, for providing vision and direction for the site. Each organization represented on the Project Team supports the Three Rs of alternatives -- methods that refine current procedures to lessen animal pain and distress, reduce the number of animals necessary for a test, or replace animals with non-whole-animal alternatives, such as in vitro tests and computer modeling.

The Project Team's goal is to provide a comprehensive global resource, with scientifically accurate, timely information about alternatives.

More information about each organization represented by the Project Team is available on Altweb.

Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS)

Representative: Jerry DePoyster

APHIS is part of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The organization is charged with protecting American agriculture, but it is also responsible for ensuring the health and well-being of animals used in research. APHIS employees enhance the care of animals used in research through enforcement of the Animal Welfare Act (AWA). APHIS regularly inspects facilities at institutions carrying out animal research to be certain that provisions of the AWA are met. APHIS can seek legal action against any facility that fails to maintain compliance with the AWA.

Animal Welfare Information Center (AWIC)

Representative: Jean Larson

The U.S. Department of Agriculture established AWIC in 1986 under provisions of the Improved Standards for Laboratory Animals Act of 1985, an amendment to the Animal Welfare Act. The center exists to provide information on the following subjects:

• proper care and use of laboratory animals
• alternatives to animal testing in research and education
• training materials for laboratory personnel and investigators using animals
• improved and refined research methods
• animal care and use committees
• other areas pertinent to animal welfare.

The center provides several services, including reference assistance and referrals and seminars on information resources. It produces and disseminates a variety of publications (e.g. bibliographies, resource guides, fact sheets, and a newsletter). The center also offers workshops on how to search for information on alternatives, assists researchers seeking information on animal care and use, and maintains its own Web site.

AWIC staff currently are collaborating with CAAT to develop a comprehensive database on pain--addressing the topics of analgesia, anesthesia, and euthanasia but also the larger issue of what is pain and how to identify stress, distress, pain, and suffering in various species.

U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)

Representative: Anita O'Connor

FDA works with various U.S. government and private organizations to develop and validate alternatives to animal testing in assessing product safety. When animal testing is used, FDA asks that researchers derive the maximum amount of useful scientific information from the minimum number of animals and employ the most humane methods available within the limits of scientific capability. FDA advocates the use of validated non-whole animal methods, and encourages efforts to develop and implement non-animal models.

Humane Society of the United States (HSUS)

Representative: Martin Stephens

HSUS is involved in numerous outreach programs to support the use of alternatives to animals in education, testing, and research, including an alternatives loan program that provides students and educators with alternatives to animal dissection and live animal exercises.

HSUS recently helped to organize and fund the Second World Congress on Alternatives and Animal Use in the Life Sciences and joined with manufacturers to launch a new standard for U.S. cosmetic companies wishing to adopt a no-animal-testing policy.

HSUS also works with the Gillette Company on a grants program that awards $100,000 for research to develop alternatives to the Draize Eye-Irritancy Test. HSUS presents the Russell and Burch Award annually to a scientist who has made an outstanding contribution toward the advancement of alternative methods in the areas of biomedical research, testing, or higher education. The $5,000 prize is named in honor of William M. Russell and Rex L. Burch, the scientists who formulated the Three Rs approach to alternatives.

Finally, the HSUS is developing a major initiative to campaign for the elimination of animal pain and distress in animal research and testing. This initiative will include the development of a comprehensive report on animal pain and distress (definitions, philosophical issues, current assessment approaches, potential methods of assessment and research needs, analysis of impact of different research techniques and approaches, recommendations), outreach to all animal care and use committees to seek their collaboration in the initiative, and the targeting of specific techniques that have been identified as causing significant distress or pain.

The HSUS publishes reports and other material on animal research, testing and education. Contact Martin Stephens at martinls@ix.netcom.com for more information.

National Institutes of Health Office for Protection from Research Risks (NIH-OPRR)

Representative: Nelson Garnett

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) Office of Protection from Research Risks (OPRR) is responsible for implementing U.S. Public Health Service (PHS) policy. While OPRR is located within NIH, the office is responsible for laboratory animal welfare in all PHS-sponsored programs. Specifically, OPRR is responsible for:

• implementation of PHS policy
• interpretation of PHS policy
• negotiation of Animal Welfare Assurances
• evaluation of compliance with PHS policy
• education of institutions and investigators receiving PHS support.

Accordingly, OPRR addresses issues relating to the proper care and treatment of animals used in research, as well as the education of investigators about viable alternatives to animal use. OPRR publishes reports, co-sponsors workshops and symposia on animal welfare, and maintains a Web site to provide information to institutions and investigators. In September, OPRR co-sponsored a workshop with CAAT on alternatives to the use of animals in the production of monoclonal antibodies. (See related story).

The Procter & Gamble Company

Representative: Katherine Stitzel

Procter & Gamble is a large pharmaceutical and consumer product company that sponsors both CAAT and Altweb. Procter & Gamble does more than merely voice its support for both CAAT and Altweb--it actively funds programs that develop, validate, and disseminate information about alternatives for use in both drug development and safety testing.

From July 1, 1986, to June 30, 1996, Procter & Gamble devoted $59.6 million to research intended to develop and validate new alternatives, including CAAT-sponsored research. That research has yielded new alternative methods to screen for skin and eye irritation, respiratory and skin allergies, birth defects and cancer.

Procter & Gamble actively practices the use of alternatives. Since 1984, although the company has tripled in size, it has reduced its use of animals in non-drug consumer product testing by more than 90%. Today, Procter & Gamble uses in vitro methods and computer modeling, along with historical data, to avoid animal testing wherever possible.

In 1989, Procter & Gamble introduced the International Program for Animal Alternatives. The program dedicates $450,000 annually to grants for nine international scientists. Procter & Gamble also was a sponsor of the First and Second World Congresses on Alternatives to Animal Use. In June 1997, Procter & Gamble gave $1 million to the San Diego SuperComputer Center, the initial developers of the Internet, to establish the BioNOME Project that will foster the development of computer models of biological systems that can be used to reduce or replace animal use.

Our European Colleagues

Laboratory Animal Unit, Norwegian College of Veterinary Medicine, Oslo

Representative: Adrian Smith

The Laboratory Animal Unit is dedicated to the collection and dissemination of information on alternatives to the use of animals in research, education, and teaching, primarily through the Norwegian Inventory of Audiovisuals (NORINA) database. NORINA is an English-language database containing information on more than 3,500 audiovisual aids that may be used as alternatives or supplements to the use of animals in teaching. Adrian Smith and consultant Karina Smith developed the database. NORINA may be accessed through Altweb.

University of Utrecht, The Netherlands

1. Netherlands Centre for Alternatives to Animal Use (NCA)
   Representative: Margot van der Kamp

   NCA coordinates research and disseminates information in the Netherlands on alternatives to animal experiments. It strives to stimulate the development, validation, and application of alternatives through various activities, including the production of a regular newsletter, maintenance of two databases on alternatives, sponsorship of symposia and workshops on alternatives, and educational outreach.

2. PREX Online Databases
   Representative: J.D. Kuiper

   PREX Online Databases is a paid subscription service available through the Department of Laboratory Animal Science at the University of Utrecht. The service provides a collection of databases focused on biomedical and veterinary literature and information unavailable (for the moment) on any other database system on the Internet. Examples include proceedings, drug dose information, inbred strain descriptions, and databases with references to the older laboratory animal science journals going back to the first issues. Examples of the databases available include Cambridge Scientific Abstracts, CAB International, Agricola, etc. See the PREX homepage for more details.