§283e — Title 42 The Public Health and Welfare | U.S. Code

Summary

The NIH Director must create and start a plan to improve how animals are used in research. The plan must find ways to do biomedical research without animals, to use fewer animals, to cause less pain and stress, and to include methods for marine life (not marine mammals). It must also describe how to check that these methods work reliably, how to get scientists to accept them, and how to train scientists to use them. The Director must send the plan to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce and the Senate Committee on Labor and Human Resources by October 1, 1993, and begin carrying it out. The Director must keep the plan under review and update it when needed, and put a description of any change in the first biennial report under section 283 after the change. The Director must tell researchers about the methods that are shown to work. The Director must set up a committee called the Interagency Coordinating Committee on the Use of Animals in Research to advise on the plan. That committee will include the directors (or their designees) of the national research institutes and representatives from the EPA, FDA, CPSC, NSF, and any other agencies the Director chooses, and must include at least one veterinarian experienced in laboratory-animal medicine.

Title 42, §283e

The Public Health and Welfare — Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)The Director of NIH, after consultation with the committee established under subsection (e), shall prepare a plan—

(1)for the National Institutes of Health to conduct or support research into—

(A)methods of biomedical research and experimentation that do not require the use of animals;

(B)methods of such research and experimentation that reduce the number of animals used in such research;

(C)methods of such research and experimentation that produce less pain and distress in such animals; and

(D)methods of such research and experimentation that involve the use of marine life (other than marine mammals);

(2)for establishing the validity and reliability of the methods described in paragraph (1);

(3)for encouraging the acceptance by the scientific community of such methods that have been found to be valid and reliable; and

(4)for training scientists in the use of such methods that have been found to be valid and reliable.

(b)Not later than October 1, 1993, the Director of NIH shall submit to the Committee on Energy and Commerce of the House of Representatives, and to the Committee on Labor and Human Resources of the Senate, the plan required in subsection (a) and shall begin implementation of the plan.

(c)The Director of NIH shall periodically review, and as appropriate, make revisions in the plan required under subsection (a). A description of any revision made in the plan shall be included in the first biennial report under section 283 of this title that is submitted after the revision is made.

(d)The Director of NIH shall take such actions as may be appropriate to convey to scientists and others who use animals in biomedical or behavioral research or experimentation information respecting the methods found to be valid and reliable under subsection (a)(2).

(e)(1)The Director of NIH shall establish within the National Institutes of Health a committee to be known as the Interagency Coordinating Committee on the Use of Animals in Research (in this subsection referred to as the “Committee”).

(2)The Committee shall provide advice to the Director of NIH on the preparation of the plan required in subsection (a).

(3)The Committee shall be composed of—

(A)the Directors of each of the national research institutes (or the designees of such Directors); and

(B)representatives of the Environmental Protection Agency, the Food and Drug Administration, the Consumer Product Safety Commission, the National Science Foundation, and such additional agencies as the Director of NIH determines to be appropriate, which representatives shall include not less than one veterinarian with expertise in laboratory-animal medicine.

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

Amendments

2011—Subsec. (e)(3)(A). Pub. L. 112–74 struck out “and the Director of the Center for Research Resources” after “institutes”.

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Change of Name

Committee on Labor and Human Resources of Senate changed to Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions of Senate by Senate Resolution No. 20, One Hundred Sixth Congress, Jan. 19, 1999. Committee on Energy and Commerce of House of Representatives treated as referring to Committee on Commerce of House of Representatives by section 1(a) of Pub. L. 104–14, set out as a note preceding section 21 of Title 2, The Congress. Committee on Commerce of House of Representatives changed to Committee on Energy and Commerce of House of Representatives, and jurisdiction over matters relating to securities and exchanges and insurance generally transferred to Committee on Financial Services of House of Representatives by House Resolution No. 5, One Hundred Seventh Congress, Jan. 3, 2001.

§283e Plan for Use of Animals in Research