IACUC – Searching for Alternatives & Documenting Non-Duplication

• University of California Center for Animal Alternatives Information The UCDavis Center for Animal Alternatives places special emphasis on disseminating up-to-date information concerning animal alternative through every level of public and private education. It also seeks for improving all aspects of animal care during their work and offers help with the alternative search, including search strategy, database selection, and general guidance, and performs low-cost searches.
• Tips for Searching for Alternative to Animal Research & Testing-Animal Welfare Information Center (AWIC). These guidelines were developed to assist researcher, information specialists, and Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC) members, when conducting literature searches to determine if alternative to the use of animal exist and whether a protocol unnecessary duplicates previous research. AWIC offer expertise in formulation of the search strategy and selection of key words and databases, access to unique databases, on and off-site training in conducting effective alternative searches, and is able to perform no-cost or low-cost electronic database searches.
• National Centre for the Replacement, Refinement, and Reduction of Animals in Research- The English Information Portal is an area of the website containing annotated links to online databases, website, journal articles, legislation and other publications. These resources provide information to help you apply the 3Rs and ensure the best possible standards in animal welfare.
• Alternatives and the Animal Welfare Act-AWIC Brochure
• Animal Welfare Information Center Alternatives Literature Searching This site provides information on methods and sources available to reduce, refine, or replace animals used in teaching, testing, and research. A fundamental goal of the Animal Welfare Act and the accompanying regulations is the minimization of animal pain and distress via the consideration of alternative and alternative methods.
• Animal Use Alternatives Thesaurus A listing of terms to be used when conducting alternatives searches provided by the USDA National Agriculture Library.
• Why conduct Literature Searches for Alternatives? Article from the American Society of Laboratory Animal Practitioners (ASLAP) Newsletter.
• Enhancing Humane Science-Improving Animal Research: a free online source provides a broad overview of diverse topics in the practice of and approaches to humane animal experimentation. It addresses such issues as experimental design (including statics and sample size determination), humane endpoints, environmental enrichment, post-surgical care, pain management, and the impact of stress on the quality of data.
• European Centre for the Validation of Alternative Methods-ECVAM promotes the scientific and regulatory acceptance of non-animal test which are important to biomedical sciences through research, test development and validation and the establishment of a specialized database service.
• Fund for the Replacement of Animal in Medical Experiments (FRAME) advocates the Three Rs approach. While its long-term goal is the total elimination of laboratory animal use, through the development, validation and acceptance of replacement alternative methods, until that goal is reached, they support efforts to reduce the numbers of animal used through better science and better experimental design, and to refine procedures so that the suffering of any animals necessary used is minimized.