National Association for Biomedical Research Webinar: Should Ethics Be Included in the Next Guide? The Pros, the Cons, and Why Members of the Research Community Must Make Your Voices Heard

The process of writing the next edition of the Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals is progressing steadily. A critical—and complex—question the authors will face is whether, and to what extent, ethical principles or rules should be included for investigators, Institutional Animal Care and Use Committees (IACUCs), veterinarians, and animal care staff. This presentation explores why the future success of animal research may depend on how this issue is addressed and argues that a satisfactory resolution will require input from the research community.

The discussion will examine how ethics are treated in the current guide, highlighting both strengths and shortcomings. It will also consider arguments for and against including specific ethical principles in the next edition. Challenges to inclusion include:

• Ethical principles involve value judgments, which can be subject to disagreement and controversy.
• The statute that governs IACUCs was not designed to allow them to engage in ethical assessments of research.
• IACUCs do not necessarily have expertise in ethical issues.
• Different IACUCs may reach conflicting conclusions on the ethical acceptability of certain types of animal research, experiments, or techniques.
• Attempting to resolve these disagreements within the guide, and enforcing such resolutions through the Office of Laboratory Animal Welfare or other regulatory bodies, could hinder or threaten important research.

By addressing these issues, the presentation aims to foster discussion on the role of ethics in the evolving landscape of animal research.

The Animal Care and Use Program, within the Division of Scholarly Integrity and Research Compliance, will host an online watch-party for this event via Zoom.