UK funding bodies urge universities to improve the design and reporting of animal research
22 May 2012
The heads of the three main funding bodies for bioscience research in the UK have today written an open letter to the vice-chancellors and principals of universities and heads of research institutes, urging them to ensure that their scientists observe guidelines designed to improve the reporting of animal research.
The Medical Research Council, Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council and the Wellcome Trust have all signed up to the ARRIVE guidelines, which were developed by the National Centre for the Replacement, Refinement and Reduction of Animals in Research (NC3Rs).
Previous studies, by the NC3Rs and others, have highlighted significant flaws in the design, analysis and reporting of animal experiments, which undermine the reliability and utility of the research conducted. The ARRIVE guidelines are intended to help address this.
The guidelines include a checklist of information that should be included in scientific publications describing animal research and have already been adopted by close to 100 journals. The UK funders are committed to high standards in the research that they sponsor, and this latest move is intended to reinforce the importance of ensuring that animal studies are properly designed, analysed and reported so that the information obtained fully contributes to the knowledge base.
Dr Vicky Robinson, the NC3Rs' chief executive, said:
“The open letter from the bioscience community's big hitters will serve as a useful reminder that there is an expectation that scientists will use the ARRIVE guidelines and this can only be good news in terms of ensuring that animal studies are better designed, analysed and reported.”
Last week, the Home Office published the Government’s response to its consultation on the implementation of an EU directive on the protection of animals used for scientific purposes. The directive came into force in November 2010 and must be transposed into UK law by November 2012.
In summer 2011, the Home Office issued a formal consultation on implementation, to which the MRC responded jointly with the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC), and as part of the Bioscience Coalition — formed of the UK’s key bioscience organisations involved with the use of animals in scientific and medical research.
The consultation response notes that in a number of areas, the UK intends to maintain current, stricter standards than those stipulated by the directive. It also says the UK will retain the current requirement that individuals carrying out regulated procedures on animals must hold a personal licence. However, the Home Office commit to exploring “opportunities to simplify the detail of personal licence authorities and to remove current requirements which increase regulation without adding to the effectiveness of the licensing process”.
Dr Tony Peatfield, director of corporate affairs at the MRC, said (as quoted by BBC news):
“The MRC strongly supports any effort to reduce unnecessary bureaucracy where there is no benefit to the welfare of research animals. We particularly welcome the commitment to simplifying the personal licensing system, aimed at ensuring that all those who work with research animals are properly trained and fully competent; we look forward to working with the Home Office to develop a simpler system.”
