Training Opportunities on Searching for Alternatives Are Available to Research Facilities

 

 

USDA’s Animal Welfare Information Center (AWIC) provides training to help research facilities consider alternatives to procedures that may cause pain or distress to their animals.

 

An alternative is any procedure which results in: reducing the number of animals used; refining research techniques to lessen or avoid pain or distress; or replacing animals altogether. Animal Welfare Act regulations require facilities to consider such alternatives. When researchers conduct a thorough literature search for alternatives, they have fully met the federal requirements.

 

Researchers must properly document to their institutional animal care and use committees (IACUCs) that they have considered alternatives when animals experience more than momentary pain or distress. Researchers must also document that their activities do not unnecessarily duplicate previous testing/experiments.

 

AWIC is mandated by the Animal Welfare Act to provide information for improving animal care and use in research, testing and teaching. AWIC is part of USDA’s National Agricultural Library in Beltsville, Md., within the Agricultural Research Service.

 

AWIC training is targeted for principal investigators, IACUC members, administrators of animal use programs, veterinarians, librarians and other information specialists. The training provides:

 

• an overview of the Animal Welfare Act and its information requirements

• a review of the alternatives concept

• a comprehensive introduction to AWIC, the National Agricultural Library and other related organizations

• instruction on the use of existing databases/websites

• hands-on practice conducting online database searches.

 

AWIC hosts workshops at the National Agricultural Library, and there is no cost to attend. The next workshop is Nov. 12-14, 2014. Registration is now open: http://awic.nal.usda.gov/awic-workshop-registration. Please register early because these workshops are limited to 20 participants.

 

Upon request, AWIC staff members can also come to your institution or conduct training via webinar. The format for such customized training varies according to each institution’s needs. The content is modified to make it relevant. The host group is responsible for paying the travel costs and per diem expenses for the one or two AWIC instructors who conduct the training. (The number of instructors depends on the number of people attending the training session.)

 

If you have any questions, contact AWIC by phone at (301) 504-6212 or email at awic@ars.usda.gov. AWIC’s homepage is located here: http://awic.nal.usda.gov/.

 

 

At USDA Animal Care, ensuring the welfare of the animals we regulate is at the heart of everything we do.