citation_inspection: 175

Consideration of Alternatives. 1. Protocol #15-20 includes a procedure that would be considered more than momentarily painful or distressful but the protocol approved by the IACUC did not contain a written narrative description of the methods and sources used to determine that alternatives were not available to that procedure. 2. Protocol #15-15 includes several procedures that would be considered more than momentarily painful or distressful and the written narrative of the animal use proposal referenced the use of a database search in the consideration for alternatives. However, the database search contained in the protocol that was approved by the IACUC did not include a consideration of alternatives for one of the surgical procedures described in the protocol. Per this Section of the Regulations, whenever a proposal for animal use contains procedures that may cause more than momentary pain or distress to the animals, the investigator is required to consider alternatives to those procedures and provide a written narrative description of the methods and sources used to determine that alternatives were not available. This requirement is important to ensure that all procedures involving animals minimize pain and distress to the animals. The IACUC needs to address this deficiency that was identified for these two protocols.