In
the backdrop of rapidly growing use of animals for experiments
and rising concern about the insensitivity towards such animals,
a large body of scientists and experts will review the implementation
of guidelines and laboratory practices for such experimentation
at an international conference on ‘Alternatives to Use of Animals
in Research and Education beginning in New Delhi from Tuesday
next i.e. February 18, 2003. The first of its kind in the country,
the Conference will be inaugurated by the Environment and Forests
Minister, Shri T.R.Baalu and will be attended by the well known
animal welfare activist, Smt. Maneka Gandhi besides more than
300 scientists from India and abroad. The three-day conference
is being jointly organised by the Committee for the Purpose of
Control and Supervision of Experiments on Animals (CPCSEA) and
Department of Biotechnology.
The Conference
will take stock of 3Rs i.e. reduction in number of animals being
used for experiments, refinement in laboratory practices to
mitigate the severity of pain to the animals and to finally
replace the use of animals with other materials like tissues,
cells, blood cells etc. Smt. Maneka Gandhi will chair the technical
session on use of animals in education with the other sessions
being on alternatives in biomedical research and regulatory
research. At a preparatory meeting last week, Shri Baalu emphasised
the need to inculcate right attitudes among the children towards
animals and to ensure adoption of humane practices towards experimental
animals. Experts and scientists from USA, United Kingdom and
Netherlands besides from governmental organizations and private
sector like Ranbaxy, Cadilla Pharmaceuticals, Nicholas Piramal,
Rallis India, Lupin Laboratories, Dr. Reddy’s Foundation etc.
will be participating in the deliberations. CBSE and ICSE will
also participate.
Though CPCSEA was
set up in 1964 under the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act,
1960, this is the first time such a conference is being organised
to review the implementation of Good Laboratory Practices Mannual
and the Guidelines issued by Indian National Science Academy
and Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore. While CPCSEA monitors
experiments on animal at the apex level, it is being done by
Institutional Animal Ethics Committees in the field. Central
Board of Secondary Education and the Indian Council of Secondary
Education have already banned dissection of animals in the schools
and introduced alternatives to provide the requisite knowledge
to medical students. Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Punjab and Tripura
have already implemented these decisions while others are in
the process of doing so.
Experimentation
on animals is carried out in various field like physiology,
pharmacology, biology, manufacture of sera, vaccines and drugs,
nutritional studies and medico legal fields. Horses are used
for the manufacture of anti-venom and anti-tetanus serum, sheep
for anti-sera vaccines and rabbits and calves for testing the
potency and safety of vaccines. Polio vaccines are subjected
to biological tests on mice and monkeys. Under the Drugs Control
Act, injectible preparations are subjected to tests on rabbits
while toxicity tests are carried out on mice before marketing.
Use of animals for experiments was introduced in the country
in 1898-99 when a Commission was set up to investigate into
the causes of the outbreak of plague in India and since then
there has been a phenomenal expansion.
