Policy on the use of animals in research
1.1 Meningitis Research Foundation will only fund research involving live animals when this is essential to the outcome of the research, there is no alternative method of obtaining the data, and when pain and distress to animals is minimised. Researchers supported on the Foundation's grants must take account of advances in the refinement, replacement and reduction of animal use.
1.2 The use of animals must be fully justified in all applications for research grants.
1.3 The Foundation recognises that experiments on living animals are an essential part of research to improve the understanding and treatment of human and animal disease. The Charity requires, however, that all experiments should be carried out with due concern for the welfare of the animals, and using the minimum number necessary to provide clear data in well-designed experiments.
1.4 All research projects funded by the Foundation which involve the use of protected animals in regulated procedures under the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 must have a Home Office project licence, and each individual working on experiments using animals must have a personal licence. Researchers undertaking projects involving animals outside the UK must take all necessary measures to comply with their country's regulations on the use of animals in scientific experiments.
1.5 The Foundation will not fund research applications which do not comply with this policy.
Implementation
2.1 The information which the Foundation sends to applicants for research funding will include its policy on research involving live animals.
2.2 The application form for research grants will include the following statement and questions as part of the main body of the application:
Applicants must have regard to animal welfare and advances in the refinement, replacement and reduction of animal use. Meningitis Research Foundation will not support animal experiments unless there is no alternative, and is essential to the outcome of the research. If the proposed research project involves research on live animals, their use must be minimised and optimised. The number of animals requested must be fully justified. Meningitis Research Foundation emphasises the importance of refining procedures to minimise any pain or distress caused.
Please refer to the Foundation's policy on the use of live animals before answering these questions:
- Do the experiments you propose involve the use of protected animals in regulated procedures under the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986? (For the information of non-UK applicants, this includes all vertebrates as well as octopus.)Yes/No
If yes, which species and how many animals?
Are any of the procedures of substantial severity? Yes/No
- Has a project licence, under the terms of the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986, been granted which authorises the proposed experiments? Yes/No
If yes, please state the name and address of the licensee, Home Office reference and date of issue and attach a copy of the front page of the project licence.
If not, has it been applied for? Yes/No
Does each individual carrying out work on animals have a personal licence? Yes/No
If you are applying from outside the UK, please explain what efforts have been made to comply with local procedures regulating the use of animals in scientific experiments.
- Have all those involved in the care and use of animals before, during and after the experiments, received appropriate training in animal care and in the procedures involved? Has this training included attendance at the relevant courses?
- Does your institution have an Ethics (or Animal Care and Use) Committee for animal experiments? If so, have the proposed experiments received its approval?
If not, what steps have been taken to gain its approval?
If no such committee exists, what alternative measures have you taken?
- Will the animals be conscious for all or part of the experiments? If so, explain why this is necessary, what, if any, discomfort they are likely to experience and how it is ameliorated.
- If the animals are to be anaesthetized, will they be allowed to regain consciousness? Unless the animals are to be the subject of survival studies, explain why this is being allowed.
- Have the appropriate power calculations been performed to determine the number of animals required? If so, please give the calculations.
- Does the proposed experimentation on live animals duplicate any other research which has already taken place, or which is known to be currently taking place in any research establishment?
- Will you be engaging any other establishment to carry out experiments on live animals as part of this research project? If so, please provide full details.
2.3 The Foundation's Scientific Advisory Panel will be informed of the Foundation's policy on the use of live animals, and will consider the responses to the above questions under ethical criteria in making its recommendations on grant aid.
2.4 The Foundation's Scientific Advisory Panel will monitor all projects involving the use of animals when reviewing funded projects.
2.5 The Foundation's conditions of grant aid will include the following requirements: the use of animals in experiments must be strictly limited to that set out in the application, and must comply in all details with the Foundation's policy on the use of animals in research.
Page last updated 03.10.08