The Animal Welfare Information Center (AWIC) teaches a one and a half day workshop at the National Agricultural Library (NAL) in Beltsville, Maryland, for individuals who are responsible for providing information to meet the requirements of the Animal Welfare Act (AWA). This workshop is targeted for principal investigators, members of IACUCs, information providers, administrators of animal use programs, and veterinarians.
The regulations of the AWA require that investigators provide Institutional Animal Care and Use Committees (IACUC) with documentation demonstrating that alternatives to procedures that may cause more than momentary pain or distress to the animals have been considered and that activities do not unnecessarily duplicate previous experiments. A thorough literature search regarding alternatives meets this Federal mandate. An alternative is any procedure which results in the reduction in numbers of animals used, refinement of techniques to minimize pain and distress, or replacement of animals while allowing the goals of the research to be accomplished.
Representatives from USDA-Animal Care and NIH-OLAW will provide regulatory updates and be available for questions.
Objectives
The objectives of the workshop are to provide:
* An overview of the AWA and its information requirements;
* A review of the alternatives concept;
* A comprehensive introduction to NAL, AWIC and other organizations;
* Instruction on the use of existing information databases/networks; and
* On-line database searching experience.
The workshop is limited to 20 participants. There is no charge for the workshop. Travel information is available from the workshop webpage.
To register, go to http://awic.nal.usda.gov/workshops
