Animal Welfare & Ethics
All animal experimentation at the Chinese University of Hong Kong can only proceed following approval from the University Animal Experimentation Ethics Committee (AEEC). A group comprising of scientists, medical doctors, veterinarians and lay persons who ensure that only ethically acceptable projects are approved.
As of 2013 the Animal Experimentation Ethics Committee (AEEC) has instigated a Post Approval Monitoring (PAM) system to monitor project compliance, with random checking of projects. Please ensure that: 1. Any procedure you conduct is AEEC approved. 2. All personnel involved are appropriately licensed for the specific procedure. 3. That the conditions of the AEEC & License are followed. 4. Cage cards and post-operative cards are filled out properly Research is approved under the principles of the 3Rs, those being to aim to replace the use of animals in scientific procedures with non-animal alternatives wherever possible, to reduce the number of animals used in experiments to a minimum and, in cases where animals do have to be used, to ensure that housing and procedures are refined to minimise the risk of any adverse impact on their welfare. The concept was first developed by Prof. William Russell and Mr. Rex Burch at the Universities Federation for Animal Welfare in the 1950s. All University Researchers must also follow the CUHK Schedule 7 Regulations on Use of Experimental Animals which incorporate The International Guiding Principles for Biomedical Research Involving Animals and The Hong Kong Code of Practice for Care and Use of Animals for Experimental Purposes. Guidelines are also available on humane endpoints. All individual researchers must also be licensed from the Hong Kong Government Department of Health, under the Animals (Control of Experiments) Ordinance CAP 340, and in accordance with the Prevention Of Cruelty to Animals Ordinance, Cap. 169. Applications forms are available from The Department of Health.(DOH) All Genetically Modified animals at CUHK must also comply with the Genetically Modified Organisms (Control Of Release) Ordinance, Cap. 607. There is also an Enrichment policy in place at all LASEC facilities whereby all enclosures must have some form of environmental enrichment that allow the animals to express normal behaviours. Researchers are also encouraged to follow the ARRIVE Guidelines when publishing scientific data involving animals. The ARRIVE (Animal Research: Reporting In Vivo Experiments) guidelines are intended to improve the reporting of animal experiments.They have been published in the journal PLoS Biology and eleven other journals. For more details visit the NC3R website. Details of Anaesthesia and Analgesia Protocols and Animal Handling Techniques can be found here. Details of humane methods of euthanasia can be found here |
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