Division of Medicine, Indian Veterinary Research Institute, Izatnagar-243122, India.
Government regulatory agencies require standard ‘safety’ tests to be performed before new drug molecule or chemical products are introduced for human and animal uses. Many of these tests are by convention animal tests. More number of animals is used in research and testing than educational purpose. Specifically bred rats and mice constitute about 90% of the animals used in research. Most of the other research animals are rabbits, guinea pigs, hamsters, farm animals, fish and insects. Non-human primates, dogs and cats accounts to a small fraction of percent animals used in research and testing. These animals suffer and bear the burnt of biological experimentation, which many times become very painful and life threatening to them. This has resulted in frequent opposition on moral ground, particularly by animals welfare agencies, and in an endeavor to curtail animals suffering through painful experimentation, the term alternatives has come into being in the recent years that refers to techniques, which could help in replacement of animals using non animal methods, reduction in number of animals used, refinement of experimental design and methods to reduce pain and distress to animals. In India, the Committee for the Purpose of Supervision on Animal Experiments (CPCSEA) under the Animal Welfare Departments (AWD), Ministry of Environment and Forest (MoEF) is looking into welfare of experimental animals. As per the provision of the Breeding and experiments on Animal Rules, 1998, it is mandatory that every establishment, involved in breeding and experimentation on animals should get registered with CPCSEA. The existing procedures as laid in the rules say that the organization should submit application in specified format to the Member Secretary or any other officer authorized in this regard. CPCSEA is supported by Institutional Animal Ethics Committee (IAEC), which is a body comprising group of persons recognized and registered by the Committee for the purpose of control and supervision of experiments on animals performed in an establishment. IAEC has to examine the research proposals to ensure that the laboratory animals are not subjected to unnecessary pain or suffering before, during or after the performance of experiments before granting permission for conducting animal experimentation. IAEC must be ensured that the experiment shall be performed in every case by or under the supervision of a person duly qualified that is degree or diploma holder in veterinary science or medicine or laboratory animal science. In the context of regulatory testing and safety assessment of various products, an alternative would be effective if it is accepted by the regulatory authorities as producing reliable and meaningful data without using animals. Therefore, in the field of regulatory testing any alternative to animal use has to be validated before regulatory authorities can accept them as a substitute to animal based study. This is complicated by the fact that the number of alternatives in regulatory testing is limited. Many countries including India have made the animal testing optional in case of products such as cosmetics. However, the animal testing is still undertaken in view of the consumer safety.Although use of animals in experimentation has been authoritatively regulated and the rules are strictly complied in research and teaching organizations in many developed and developing countries, it is needless to mention that many educational organizations in India are yet to adopt policies governing use of animals by the researchers. Strict implementation of policies requires more input from governing bodies and a cooperating hand from various institutions engaged in research and teaching using animals.
