Media Credit: Zane Ritt

The University is currently using 166,755 animal specimens for scientific research and teaching materials, according to University data. Each and every one of those cases is reviewed and approved by the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee, a little known board that wields considerable power.

The vast majority of animals used at the University are included in the University's long-running zebrafish research program, accounting for nearly 164,000 of the total research specimens.

Cold-blooded vertebrates such as zebrafish make up 99.7 percent of the University's research, and the other 0.3 percent of animal research is done with warm-blooded animals such as mice, rats, owls, rabbits and two primates.

IACUC is the sole committee at the University responsible for either approving or denying any requests made for animal use in faculty research or classroom use.

"I think it's just an excellent idea, both for insurance or the quality of animal care from the scientific research point of view, and out of a general concern for the well-being of animals," said IACUC Chair Will Davie. "The committee monitors both of those quite intensely."

IACUC Director Monte Matthews said researchers must undergo a lengthy process of application to get approval for animal use in their work.

Researchers first submit an application to the committee, which is then pre-reviewed by Davie, Matthews and a committee veterinarian. If researchers are submitting their first application, they must also undergo a training session with IACUC before they submit. After the pre-review, the application is sent back to researchers with questions and revisions for them to consider before submitting a second time.

"Most of the questions are dealt with even before the application gets to the committee members," Matthews said.

After the second submission of the application is made, the full 11-member committee convenes and deliberates before making a final decision on the proposed project.

Matthews said a majority must be present for the meeting to be valid, and a majority vote from those present is required for approval. Matthews said very few cases brought to the committee have any dissent at all.

"I would say 90 percent of the cases, if not more, we have unanimous approval," he said.

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