Animal Research

I noted the thoughtful response by Richard W. Steele (letter, Sept. 18) to “Man vs. Dog: a Bioethical Trade Off,” and his suggestion that panels be created to review the use of animals for research. I want to assure Mr. Steele and your readers that UCLA and all other major biomedical research institutes of which I am aware have such panels and that they operate in exactly the manner he suggested.

At UCLA we call it the Animal Research Committee (ARC). The committee has been operative for five years, has 11 members, two of whom are outside the experimental community. The ARC reviews every research protocol that involves animals and examines for redundancy, possibility of non-animal substitution, humane performance and importance of the experimentation.

If the proposal is found to be deficient in any way, the ARC has the power to stop the proposed research and has exercised this power when warranted.

I agree, as suggested by Mr. Steele, that a very real issue is accountability and add that the research community has and is “facing up to it.”

GLEN A. LANGER, M.D.

Associate Dean for Research

UCLA