f6098d8b__and_Use_of_Laboratory_Animals__Comments
[ID] 489 [Entry Date] 04/25/2011 at 10:10:36 AM [Affiliation] Self [Comments] 
Comment 1: There are several problems with the proposal. The most absurd change I find is a requirement to use 'pharmaceutical grade' drugs to animals. There is no evidence that the 'lesser' are harmful, and the pharmaceutical hike up the cost of doing business with little rationale. The whole regulatory process has become absurd...our good judgment is constantly usurped by some regulatory body whose intentions may be good, but whose bureaucratic execution is a nightmare, costing taxpayers much more money than need be and as a result of researcch overhead, making a serious cut in how much research ever gets funded. For what? I can't think of anything that I do today that I didn't do 25 years ago...I just get a boatload of forms to fill out, and everything cost more (oh, and I can't give my animals toys, because they can't be sterilized, or they might harm themselves playing with a ball!). I doubt if the average taxpayer would be in favor of a 'purpose-bred' anything if they knew how much it hikes the cost of animals..and for purposes that still escape me (I'd grant some Class B suppliers were not taking care of the animals...but, there's a true regulatory issue...where was the government on that one?). Instead of more regulatation, the group needs to look at the big picture. At any university, you have smart people. Lord knows, you have enough 'compliance' and 'ethics' programs to choke anyone...yet, despite this 'education', the policy is to trust nobody, and increase cost to the taxpayer in terms of research dollar, both on the grant given, and the grant that was never given because bureacracy on the grant given took money away needlessly. Comment 2: one per year is enough. This reminds me...One reason I came back to grad school was because I was working in a facility for the mentally 'challenged' in MA ...my 'job' was to evaluate the IQ and psychological well-being of the 'resident', and make recommendations for progress over the next year. I'd then go to a meeting with a social worker, education specialist, occupational therapist, physical therapist, and physician where we'd all make our report. These reports were 'required' and the government had funds for these reports which were nearly always the same year after year. But, nothing ever happened. Nearly none of the changes recommended were implemented, because there was no money for that ...just the 'report'.....year after year after year...
Listing of Public Comments on Proposed Adoption and Implementation of the Eighth Edition of the Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals