Ch. 15— Institutional and Self-Regulation of Animal Use • 349 
“studies of pain in animals paralyzed with a neu- 
romuscular blocking agent should not be per- 
formed without a general anesthetic or an appro- 
priate surgical procedure that eliminates sensory 
awareness.” 
Society for Neuroscience 
After more than 2 years of revision, review, and 
commentary by members of the Society for Neuro- 
science (17), an Ad Hoc Committee on Animals in 
Research published its Guidelines for the Use of 
Animals in Neuroscience Research in 1984 (14). 
In addition to the requirements in common with 
other societies, these Guidelines place particular 
emphasis on good experimental design and state 
that “advances in experimental methods, more ef- 
ficient use of animals, within-subject designs, and 
modern statistical techniques all provide possible 
ways to minimize the numbers of animals used 
in research.” 
The Guidelines show particular concern about 
prolonged immobilization or restraint, suggesting 
that "reasonable periods of rest and readjustment 
should be included in the experimental schedule 
unless these would be absolutely inconsistent with 
valid scientific objectives.” It is noteworthy that 
although the policy statement was formulated to 
deal with research using warm-blooded verte- 
brates, it includes a statement concerning inver- 
tebrates: 
As a general principle . . . ethical issues involved 
in the use of any species, whether vertebrate or 
invertebrate, are best considered in relation to 
the complexity of that species’ nervous system 
and its apparent awareness of the environment, 
rather than physical appearance or evolutionary 
proximity to humans. 
In this inclusion of invertebrates into its Guide- 
lines , the Society for Neuroscience is unique among 
scientific organizations. This policy likely reflects 
an enhanced awareness in neurobiology of the de- 
gree of sophistication exhibited by some inver- 
tebrate nervous systems. 
Society for the Study 
of Reproduction 
The Society for the Study of Reproduction (SSR) 
publishes its Guiding Principles for the Care and 
Use of Research Animals in each issue of its jour- 
nal, Biology of Reproduction, as part of the instruc- 
tions to authors. Investigators are urged to give 
consideration to, among other things, “the use of 
in vitro models." 
An investigator wishing to present data at the 
annual meeting of the SSR must first make a decla- 
ration regarding the use of animals in generating 
those data. The researcher is required to attest 
with his or her signature (see fig. 15-2) that the 
research described in the abstract is in strict ac- 
cord with the guiding principles for experimental 
procedures endorsed by the society. Written affir- 
mations of this nature are becoming increasingly 
common among scientific societies; the American 
Physiological Society, the Society for Neuroscience, 
and the International Association for the Study of 
Pain are among the groups with prerequisites of 
signed statements of humane treatment of exper- 
imental subjects for abstract presentations. 
American College of Physicians 
In a 1983 position paper entitled Animal Re- 
search , the American College of Physicians (ACP) 
stated that "scientists and animal welfare advocates 
share a belief that safeguards are necessary to en- 
sure humane treatment of animals used in scien- 
tific research and testing” and that other issues 
needing to be addressed include "development of 
alternative testing methods” and "mechanisms to 
ensure that . . . treatment, care, and experimental 
methods limit animal pain and suffering.” 
ACP suggests that appropriate safeguards "may 
require the establishment of procedures not un- 
like human subjects protection review” and "rec- 
ognizes the importance of standards that promote 
the conduct of quality research and ensure the 
humane care of healthy animals for research activ- 
ities" (4). 
