Individual and collective responsibility to enhance regulatory compliance of the Three Rs

Abstract

Investigators planning to use animals in their research and the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC) members who review the research protocols must take personal responsibility for ensuring that they have the skills and knowledge to perform their duties, applying the Three Rs principles of Russell and Burch. The two Korean laws introduced in 2008 and 2009 regulating animal use for scientific purposes in line with the Three Rs principles have been revised a total of 11 times over the last 6 years. Both regulatory agencies, e.g., the Animal and Plant Quarantine Agency and the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety, provide regular training based on the legal requirements. Based on the amended Animal Welfare Act, the IACUC appointment framework has been upgraded: appointments are now for two-year terms and require a qualified training certificate issued by the Animal and Plant Quarantine Agency since 2012. The authors reviewed the current curricular programs and types of training conducted by the two governing agencies through Internet searches. Our Internet survey results suggest that: a) diversity should be provided in training curricula, based on the roles, backgrounds and needs of the individual trainees; b) proper and continued educational programs should be provided, based on trainees’ experiences; and c) active encouragement by government authorities can improve the quality of training curricula. [BMB Reports 2014; 47(4): 179-183]

The status and issues of the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee of Seoul National University: from its establishment to the present day

“…APA was primarily focused on preventing abuses of companion animals [ 20 ], and now the policy objective and purpose is expanded to enhance public health, sentiment and confidence, through an effective system minimizing animal cruelty and promoting animal welfare, while the purpose of the LAA is to contribute to the development of life sciences and improvement in public health by enhancing the reliability of animal research and testing, through appropriate regulation and oversight of institutions, laboratory animals and animal testing [ 21 ]. The animals for testing or experimentation regulated by the LAA (Article 3) should be supplied either by another animal facility, a qualified laboratory animal production facility, or a registered laboratory animal supplier [ 19 ].…”

Development of Two Korean IACUC Guidance Documents to Foster Implementation of the Three Rs

“…It is the responsibility of the institution to provide suitable induction and orientation, appropriate information, adequate resources, and training to enable the IACUC members to carry out their responsibilities. 1,3 In accordance with the two Korean laws, research projects, testing or educational activities involving the use of animals in Korea can commence only after the protocols have been reviewed and approved by an IACUC. 1,3,6 Each IACUC provides an institutional animal study protocol template that investigators are required to complete and submit, and a protocol review template that the IACUC members use to evaluate the scientific claims and ethical compliance of the proposed study.…”

Promoting and improving three Rs practice: the Korean guidelines

“…The guidelines consist of a 20-item-checklist of the key information that should be included in a manuscript (Title, Abstract, Introduction, Methods, Results, and Discussion), to ensure comprehensive and transparent reporting in two A4 pages. It is widely accepted that applying the Three Rs to experiments involving the use of animals is consonant with good scientific practice, and currently over 300 journals advocate high reporting standards and the most efficient way to improve the reporting of a manuscript ( 13 – 16 ).…”

“…The IACUC appointment framework is for two-year terms, and since 2012 requires a four-hour course certificate issued by the Animal and Plant Quarantine Agency ( 16 ). Researchers planning to use animals for scientific purposes must complete a six-hour qualification course.…”

“…Both regulatory agencies mostly offer ‘instructor-led training’ and off-line training. Educational opportunities should be provided, when they are needed ( 16 ). The authors addressed how different types of training method that take into consideration an individual’s schedule and their interest in the topics in the paper published in 2014, and a web-based teaching method has now been approved as a type of qualification training course, according to the Enforcement Rule of the Animal Protection Act (Chapter, Article 26 (Qualification of IACUC Members) Item 4 ( 22 ), and the Standard of Operation of the Animal Protection & Welfare Curricula or Animal Experiment Training Course, effective as of August 18, 2017 (Animal and Plant Quarantine Agency Notice 2017–33) ( 20 ).…”