390 • Alternatives to Animal Use in Research, Testing, and Education 
first is the local BID Animal Research Committee (ARC). 
This committee must have at least five Federal Govern- 
ment employees; the BID Scientific Director is respon- 
sible for annual appointments of the chairperson and 
members and for carrying out the committee’s recom- 
mendations. Included among the five ARC members 
must be the attending veterinarian on the BID staff, 
a tenured investigator representing laboratories and 
divisions that use animals, and "a person who is sensi- 
tive to bioethical issues, does not possess an advanced 
degree in one of the life sciences, and is an employee 
from outside that BID” (26). 
The NIH policy gives the BID ARCs many specific 
responsibilities beyond the general duties of many such 
committees. As with other local animal care commit- 
tees, each ARC is required to make recommendations 
on animal care matters to its Scientific Director and 
to review proposals and protocols for humane stand- 
ards of animal care. It is also supposed to advise indi- 
viduals on the BID’S policies and oversee their imple- 
mentation within the facility. The major specific duties 
of the ARC are: 
• to hold quarterly meetings at which a majority of 
the ARC members are present; 
• to maintain a file of all minutes, memorandums, 
waivers, and project review documents; 
• to perform site visits of each facility within the BID 
at least annually to assess compliance, and to sub- 
mit written reports on these inspections to the 
Scientific Director; 
• to develop a plan for attaining accreditation of the 
animal facilities or for pursuing accreditation 
standards; and 
• to prepare an annual report for the NIH Deputy 
Director for Intramural Research addressing prob- 
lems and accomplishments related to attaining ac- 
creditation. 
Individual investigators are responsible for submit- 
ting appropriate information needed for ARC review 
of a proposal, advising the ARC chairperson of any sig- 
nificant deviations from procedures described in the 
most recent project review, and ensuring that all per- 
sonnel working directly with animals have been trained 
in the proper care and use of that species. Thus, the 
system puts much of the burden for proper animal care 
during an experiment on each investigator. 
The second authority set up by the NIH intramural 
policy was the NIH Animal Research Committee 
(NIHARC). Committee members are appointed annu- 
ally by the Deputy Director for Intramural Research 
and must include a veterinarian, the chairperson from 
each BID ARC, and a nonaffiliated member. NIHARC 
holds quarterly meetings, advises the Deputy Director 
on animal care and use at NIH, discusses issues referred 
from the BID ARCs, develops and coordinates training 
programs for NIH employees on animal care and use, 
and prepares NIH’s Annual Report of Research Facilitv 
for USD A. 
Department of the Interior 
The Department of the Interior does more than 95 
percent of its research in-house. All research and de- 
velopment facilities must comply with both the Ani- 
mal Welfare Act and with the Department’s Research 
and Development Policy/Procedures Handbook (27), 
which calls for an approved animal welfare plan. The 
National Wildlife Health Laboratory (NWHL) must pro- 
vide assistance upon request in the development, im- 
plementation, and maintenance of each program. Due 
to the diversity of the research programs and the 
uniqueness of the species involved, each facility is al- 
lowed to develop an animal welfare plan peculiar to 
its own needs as long as it is approved by NWHL. 
Each division plan must discuss: 
• persons responsible for compliance; 
• reporting and recordkeeping procedures for ani- 
mals used; 
• all components of the Animal Welfare Act and the 
Department animal health and husbandry stand- 
ards that cannot be complied with, due either to 
the general design of anticipated studies or the 
unique natural requirements of the species in- 
volved; 
• quarantine procedures for exotic species; 
• personnel health monitoring and disease preven- 
tion programs; 
• a schedule for periodic onsite evaluations by the 
NWHL Veterinary Medical Officer; and 
• procedures for handling carcasses following un- 
expected mortalities (27). 
The NWHL Veterinary Medical Officer oversees en- 
forcement of these policies. 
Consumer Product Safety 
Commission 
The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) 
as part of its mission to enforce the labeling require 
ments of the Federal Hazardous Substances Act (FHSA 
(see ch. 7), conducts its own oral acute toxicity studies 
to determine the toxic potential of regulated substances 
If the demand for testing exceeds the capacity of the 
CPSC’s Health Sciences Laboratory Division, the agency 
contracts with FDA’s NCTR (13). 
