your help on animal ethics committee

[Guest guest]

Dear animal activist community:

 

My name is Changkil Park, I am an animal activist from Seoul Korea.

 

Animal organizations in Korea have successfully campaigned to require research

facilities to establish animal ethics committee to review the any research using

animals and rigorously limit the use of any stray animals in experiment for the

first time in its revision of animal protection law.

 

The animal ethics committee system is somewhat similar to US IACUC but a little

bit stronger community participation, by our campaign. We are asked to submit

the draft regulation by the government.

 

I would appreciate if you introduce any good professional document or papers on

any problems on US IACUC system and how it should be improved.

 

While we are well informed on the regulation of US IACUC, but do not well

informed what how the IACUC in US fails if there is any and how to improve the

system.

 

For example, Gary Francione comments US IACUC has deficiencies in his book, but

would like to read document from other sources.

 

I am concerned as animal researchers here as well as government officials are

blindly following model after the US model.

 

I would appreiciate if you anser my question or forward to any person who could

answer this.

 

Regards,

 

 

Changkil Park

 

Voice for Animals at Korea (http://www.voice4animals.org)

 

e-mail: guidingdog

 

phone: +82 2 991 1430, Fax: +82 2 6442 6332

 

 

 

Reference on animals ethics committee in the revised animal protection law.

 

(This translation is not any official translation of the revised animal

protection law, temporary translation by Voice4animals)

 

I. Principles of animal experiment

 

1. Any one who does the experiment should consider alternatives to the

experiment first.

 

2. Researcher should have enough knowledge and experience. Research should use

minimum number of animals.

 

3. Experiment should use the animals with less sensitivity to pains; should do

adequate measures to reduce the pain of animals.

 

4. Researchers should inspect the animals right away after the experiment.

 

If animals are unrecoverable conditions or expected to live with enduring pains,

 

then animals should be terminated with least pains as soon as possible.

 

5. Stray animals and animals which worked for people are should not be used in

experiment only with the exceptional cases such as the studies of the very

species or diseases further defined by the ministry of Agriculture and Forestry.

 

 

 

II. Animal Ethics Committee

 

1. This committee is organized by 3 to 15 people.

 

This committee are should include the following members, but the member of # one

and # two is the necessity.

 

And the number of the following items should be at least over 1/3 of the total

number.

 

The member should not have any business interest with research facilities.

 

1. veterinarian.

 

2. a person with knowledge and experience on the animal protection,

 

who is recommended by NGO, who meets the requirement of ministry of Agriculture

and Forestry.

 

3. lawyer or professor who teaches law at the university or college.

 

4. professor who teaches animal protection or animal welfare at university or

college.

 

5. The committee supervise the animal experiment to be conducted under the

principle defined by this law.

 

The committee can ask for animal protection and ethical treatment to managers

and employees of the research facilities.

 

6. The committee member should not disclose the secretive informations gotten

through his or her committee work.

 

7. The president of Korea will define further regulations on the way how the

committee supervise the experiment, compose its members and functions.