Last Revised: 12/02/2011
It has been the practice at the University of Missouri –St. Louis (University) to provide utmost care and comfort to the animal subjects in its care. This formal policy statement specifies the principles that govern those practices. The University practices in animal treatment go beyond what is required by government regulation as indicated with greater detail through the following provisions:
The University’s Animal Welfare Unit will continue to provide comfortable living arrangements for animals in its care including, but not limited to, appropriate feeding, bedding and health monitoring.
All protocols for research, teaching, research training, and/or biological testing using live vertebrate animals have to be approved by the University’s Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC).
The IACUC is a self-regulating entity with authority that is derived from the Animal Welfare Act (AWA) and its amendments administered through USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), and the Health Research Extension Act (Public Health Service--PHSAct) administered through the Office of Laboratory Animal Welfare (OLAW) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The 1985 amendment of the latter act provided legislative authority for enforcing PHS policy, and established the organization and operation of IACUC at research institutions.
The IACUC reviews activities involving animals for compliance with federal, state and local laws, regulations and guidelines.The 1985 amendment to the AWA and the PHS policy assign a training function to the IACUC to ensure that appropriate training is provided to all staff who care for animals and to all researchers who employ animals in their investigations.
The University’s Animal Welfare Unit has been accredited by the Association for Assessment and Accreditation of Laboratory Animal Care(AAALAC, International) since 1986.
As an AAALAC accredited and PHS assured institution, the University follows the recommendations of the Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals(Guide, NRC 2011). Furthermore, the University expressly discourages any conduct that would cause severe and unrelieved pain and distress to animal subjects.
