The American Association for Accreditation of Laboratory Animal Care (AAALAC) is requesting funding for a five year period to provide partial core support and retain the continuity of its widely accepted program of accreditation of laboratory animal care and use programs. The Association membership is composed of 25 (sponsoring) organizations, all of which are widely recognized scientific societies. Each member organization appoints a representative to the AALAC Board of Trustees which is the governing body of the organization. The standard for the accreditation program is the document """"""""Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals, """"""""DHEW, (NIH) 78-23. Other reference documents, include ILAR species orientated """"""""guidelines"""""""" documents, and appropriate Government publications. As of December 31, 1980 there were 388 accredited institutions. This requested financial support will assist in maintaining the integrity of and in expansion of the program to accommoddate additional requests for accreditation which are considered highly desirable by the biomedical scientific community. A major objective is to improve to an optimum level the care and use of laboratory animals in biomedical research. Once this optimum is reached a second major objective is to maintain that level. A third objective is to provide an alternative method for compliance with the DHHS policy on care and use of laboratory animals. The Animal Welfare Act (PL89-544 and 91-579 as amended) outlines legal requirements for the proper care and humane treatment of laboratory animals. NIH has established policy that organizations shall assure NIH that they will evaluate their animal facilities in regard to the maintenance of acceptable standards for the care, use, and treatment of such animals. NIH Grantees and Contractors must provide evidence of compliance with this policy. One of the methods of providing assurance is accreditation by a recognized laboratory animal accrediting body. AALAC is an organization widely recognized as a professional laboratory animal accrediting body.
