References
Category E Animals
From USDA AWA Regulations and Standards, Section 2.36 (b)7:
“(b) The annual report shall: …
| State the common names and the numbers of animals upon which teaching, experiments, research, surgery, or tests were conducted involving accompanying pain or distress to the animals and for which the use of appropriate anesthetic, analgesic, or tranquilizing drugs would have adversely affected the procedures, results, or interpretation of the teaching, research, experiments, surgery, or tests. An explanation of the procedures producing pain or distress in these animals and the reasons such drugs were not used shall be attached to the annual report;” |
and
From the USDA APHIS Policy Manual, Policy 11:”A painful procedure is defined as any procedure that would reasonably be expected to cause more than slight or momentary pain and/or distress in a human being to which that procedure is applied. The Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC) is responsible for ensuring that investigators have appropriately considered alternatives to any procedures that may cause more than slight or momentary pain or distress. A written narrative description of the methods and sources used to search for alternatives must be provided. Where specific testing procedures are required by Federal law, the CFR references or other legal guidelines requiring them should be noted.
Examples of procedures that can be expected to cause more than momentary or slight pain include, but are not limited to, the following:
| Terminal Surgery is considered a painful procedure which is NOT alleviated by anesthesia.Freund’s Complete Adjuvant used for antibody production may cause results ranging from momentary or slight pain to severe pain depending on the product, procedure, and species.Ocular and Skin Irritancy Testing. The dosing procedure itself is generally not painful, but the reaction caused by the product being tested may cause pain. |
Examples of procedures that may cause more than momentary or slight distress include, but are not limited to, the following:
| food or water deprivation beyond that necessary for normal presurgical preparation.Noxious electrical shock that is not immediately escapable.Paralysis or immobility in a conscious animal. |
Many procedures, including any of those in the lists above, may cause both pain and distress. An example of a procedure that can be expected to cause more than momentary or slight pain as well as distress would be a study involving extensive irradiation.
Animals exhibiting signs of pain, discomfort, or distress such as decreased appetite/activity level, adverse reactions to touching inoculated areas, open sores/necrotic skin lesions, abscesses, lameness, conjunctivitis, corneal edema, and photophobia are expected to receive appropriate relief unless written scientific justification is provided in the animal activity proposal and approved by the IACUC.
Research facilities must have a mechanism in place for ensuring that animals are reported in the appropriate pain category on the annual report (APHIS Form 7023). Individual animals that do not experience pain/distress from testing procedures should be reported in column C. Individual animals experiencing pain/distress which is alleviated with anesthetics, analgesics, sedatives and/or tranquilizers should be reported in column D. This category includes terminal surgery under anesthesia. Individual animals in which needed anesthetics, analgesics, sedatives, and/or tranquilizers are withheld should be reported in column E. For all column E animals, a written justification, approved by the IACUC, must be provided, including CFR references or other guidelines if appropriate.”http://www.aphis.usda.gov/animal_welfare/policy.php?policy=11