Changes to Policies and Procedures for DoD-Funded Animal Activities

As you may be aware, the United States Department of Defense (DoD) has promulgated a number of changes to processes and procedures affecting animal care and use protocols.

For your convenience, we have summarized these changes below. We encourage you to review this information carefully to ensure that you understand how the revised procedures may impact your animal care and use protocols.

A complete description of all changes can be found in the announcements provided by the DoD:

• DoD Animal Care & Use Review Office Guidance for Submission of Changes to Animal Care and Use Protocols
• Institutional Notifications to the DoD Animal Care & Use Review Office

Specific changes to be aware of include:

• Annual reviews are now only required for USDA-regulated species. These changes will be reflected in an update to the eRAM system on December 16, 2019.
• Certain protocol changes no longer require pre-approval by the DoD’s Animal Care & Use Review Office (ACURO). These changes include:
  • Administrative changes (e.g., correction of grammatical and/or typographical errors, contact information, etc.)
  • Personnel changes, with the exception of the Principal Investigator
  • Change of strain
  • Decrease in animal numbers
  • Change in housing and/or animal use location that is overseen by the IACUC

The DoD has also provided a detailed definition of “Adverse Events.”
As such, the following must be reported immediately to the U-M Animal Care & Use Office:

1. Incidents that lead to:
   • Unintended and substantial injury or illness,
   • Unrelieved pain or distress, or
   • Death of an animal
2. Unforeseen, unanticipated, inappropriately addressed, or inappropriately alleviated sources of pain, distress, and/or death of an animal that were NOT identified as potential risk factors or adverse complications in the IACUC approved protocol
3. Any adverse events that occur at a higher frequency or severity than expected (as described in the IACUC approved protocol)

Questions?

If you have questions or concerns about any of these process changes, please contact Lauren Danridge, Associate Director – Animal Care & Use Office, at danridlm@umich.edu.