'SUK' : UGC asks Universities to Register Online for Dissection Guidelines

The Shivaji University Grants Commission (UGC) on May 17 issued a circular asking all universities and colleges to register themselves online at the Committee for the Purpose of Control and Supervision of Experiments on Animals (CPCSEA) web portal soon.

The CPCSEA objective is to ensure that animals are not subjected to unnecessary pain or suffering before, during or after performance of experiments on them. For this purpose, the Committee formulated the Breeding of and Experiments on Animals (Control and Supervision) Rules, 1998. These were amended in 2001 and later in 2006 to regulate experimentation on animals. The circular added that the CPCSEA website will accept applications for registration online. The circular also instructed university officials to issue a notification to all affiliated colleges.

According to a UGC norm, every university and science college has to start Institutional Animal Ethics Committees (IAEC). The committee has to incolve a biological scientist from the particular institution. The panel will have to conduct regular meetings to ensure that the UGC norms on dissection are being followed. The UGC has instructed that officials submit the names of members in the IAEC as well as the minutes of the meetings held till date.

The UGC had issued guidelines to discontinue dissection and animal experimentation in zoology and life science courses in a phase-wise manner in 2011. It has also been sending frequent reminders to academic institutions since then. The guidelines encourage the use of books, models and films. For under-graduate programmes, students should not be required to dissect any animal. Post-graduate students can choose to dissect animals or opt for a project related to biodiversity and/or biosystematics.

Source - Prasad Patil, City Journalist, College Dekho