Mouse Welfare Indicators

…..If you want a comprehensive check list for assessing the welfare of your mouse, you might find this link useful:

http://www.mousewelfareterms.org/doku.php

....and I am sure that you can also modify it for your rat!

HPRA FEES FROM 2015

No more project application/amendment fees will be charged from the 1st January 2015. A fee of 150 euro per year will be charged for each Individual Authorization from the first of January 2015 to become 250 in 2017.
For more details see below but also in your own "M drive Admin" folder

To Kill a Lab Rat

Those that use CO2 might find this article interesting:

http://www.the-scientist.com//?articles.view/articleNo/41378/title/To-Kill-a-Lab-Rat/

AWB Position Statement:

The AWB considers that the use of non-pharmaceutical grade reagents when an alternative pharmaceutical grade is available is not ethical, against the principle of refinement of the 3Rs and could compromise animal wellbeing, as these compounds are not normally tested for the presence of toxins or pyrogens. Additionally these reagents can potentially increase confounding experimental variables and reduce the reproducibility of a given experiment.

 (Image from http://rockposer.files.wordpress.com/2011/06/announcement.jpg)

Remember! ...from the 1st of July

...will be...

ANNUAL RETURNS

The IMB will publish a form to be used for the reporting of animal usage over 2013 by the end of February. Please note that the deadline for submission of these forms is the 30th of March 2014.
The onus on the reporting is on the project manager and you might not have an e-mail reminding you.

ARE (Animal Right Extremism) Information

AREinformation is a global information service about animal rights extremism (ARE) created to provide journalists, biomedical organisations and the wider public with a credible source of comprehensive, up-to-date and objective information on ARE. The website is intended to inform and to serve as a starting point for a more coordinated, cross-sector response to animal rights extremism. - See more at: http://www.animalrightsextremism.info/about-us#sthash.ogN7hRpg.dpuf

Expert Working Groups in Europe-Conclusions

The European Commission has established Expert Working Groups (EWG) for project evaluation and retrospective assessment of projects as well as for the development of a common education and training framework of all users. These are the links to their conclusions in order to facilitate the implementation of the Directive 2010/63/EU:




EWG for education and training: http://ec.europa.eu/environment/chemicals/lab_animals/pdf/Endorsed_E-T.pdf
EWG for Project evaluation and retrospective assessment:
http://ec.europa.eu/environment/chemicals/lab_animals/pdf/Endorsed_PE-RA.pdf

Points to Consider

This is a summary of the IMB e-mail that was circulated in the middle of December with  a number of developments in relation to the implementation of the Directive.