To underscore their commitment to laboratory animal welfare, numerous academic and professional societies, as well as individual universities, pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, have adopted a code of conduct or other policy statement governing animal research. Typically, these policies require that all work with laboratory animals be conducted according to applicable laws and regulations and often describe required training programs for personnel as well as outline the institutional responsibilities to ensure compliance including actions to be taken for non-compliance. It is increasingly common for animal welfare compliance to be a condition of employment in industry settings. It can be grounds for immediate dismissal if an employee fails to adhere to animal care standards or fails to report coworkers for non-compliance. Typical examples of these animal welfare policy statements include:
American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
Biotechnology Industry Organizations (BIO)
Covance
University of Michigan
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