2003 Annual Reports for Boards and Committees

Committee on Animal Research and Ethics (CARE) Annual Report -- 2003

Members : Chana K. Akins, Chair, Mark Blumberg, Mark Galizio, Karen L. Hollis, James K. Rowlett, Lisa M. Savage, Sangeeta Panicker (APA Staff Liaison)

CARE’s primary focus in 2003 continued to be safeguarding the responsible use of laboratory animals in psychological science through the dissemination of accurate information pertaining to their role in research and teaching by psychologists. This general goal was advanced in a number of different ways that built on last year’s progress.

Educational and informational programs to advance understanding and foster interest in the use of animals in teaching and research in psychology

CARE Video Series on the Importance of Animal Research CARE continued its development of a multi-part video series on the importance of animal research in psychology. The second segment in this video series, which focuses on the contributions of nonhuman animal research in the area of Psychopharmacology, was released in February 2003. A study guide for use with the video was also developed, to enable teachers to better adapt the video into their classroom lesson plans. Complimentary copies of the video and study guide were sent to all members of Teachers of Psychology in Secondary Schools (TOPSS), in November 2003. Preliminary efforts in the development of the remaining video segments in the series were also initiated.

The Development of Educational Packages for High School and Early College Students The Committee further discussed developing educational packages regarding the use of nonhuman animals in teaching and research in psychology. The first step in this on-going project entails design and completion of the CARE web site. The Committee’s FAQ document will be one of the first documents to be added to the website as discussed at previous meetings. The Committee is also developing a short presentation based on the model used for the ExploringBehavior Week initiative. The goal is to facilitate faculty and graduate student visits to local schools to inform students about the relevance of laboratory animal research in psychology. The Committee continues to believe that reaching out to young students is the key to counteracting the increased activities of anti-animal research groups at this educational level and will be planning more activities on this front in the future.

Support of animal research and scientists who conduct research with laboratory animals

Disaster Planning and Crisis Management In 2000, CARE reviewed various documents on crisis management and disaster planning as it relates to safeguarding animal research facilities as well as protecting scientists who use animals other than humans in their research. As a result of this review it was decided the best course of action was to contact departmental chairs via the COGDOP listserv and/or the COGDOP Executive Board to alert them to the importance of having such a resource available to their laboratory animal researchers and staff. Departments that did not have such a plan could then obtain, from CARE, a crisis management template that could be customized for their own use. Permission was obtained from the University of Minnesota to revise its emergency guidelines for the development of such a template document. Staff consulted with the APA General Counsel to ascertain that there were no liability issues associated with the dissemination of this document through the APA Science Directorate. The plan was to send the customizable emergency guide to department chairs upon request. Given the low response rate from COPGDOP, the Committee decided on an alternate method of obtaining this information and providing the service. It was decided that CARE would correspond directly with laboratory animal researchers via the listservs of relevant divisions, such as Divisions 6, 25, and 28.

Future plans and development of new initiatives

CARE generated a list of potential initiatives for the Committee and began to prioritize them. The short list would include:

• Becoming more active in advocating for animal research both in Congress as well as with the public;
• Collaborating with the NIH Office of Laboratory Animal Welfare (OLAW) on the development of educational materials;
• Exploring ways in which accurate information regarding behavioral and psychological research with animals other than humans can be made available to student organizations on university/college campuses that support behavioral and biomedical research with animals.
• Conducting a new survey that would be sent to chairs of psychology departments to gauge the status of laboratory animal research in psychology programs across the nation.

Membership Changes

Chana K. Akins, Mark Galizio, Karen L. Hollis, and Lisa M. Savage continued to serve on the Committee. Mark S. Blumberg and James K. Rowlett joined the Committee. CARE elected Chana K. Akins to serve another three-year term and to serve as the Chair of CARE, for the term January 1-December 31, 2004. Dr. Hollis rotated off the Committee at the end of 2003, and was replaced by Nancy K. Dess in 2004.