An ad hoc planning committee will plan and conduct a webinar and one-day workshop to discuss the future of laws, regulations and policies governing the use of laboratory animals in the United States.

A. A webinar will be held to provide an overview of applicable federal laws and regulations governing the care and use of laboratory animals in the United States. Potential topics covered by the webinar could include:

• The AWA and its regulations (implemented by USDA and followed by IACUCs): evolution and applicability, compliance and enforcement

• The PHS Act and its policies (implemented by the Office of Laboratory Animal Welfare, NIH and followed by IACUCs): evolution and applicability, compliance and enforcement

• Similarities and differences between the AWA and the PHS Act

• Laws regulations and policies applicable to the occupational environment in which laboratory animals are housed and used; and

• Laws, regulations and policies involving laboratory biosecurity and biosafety.

B. A one-day workshop will be held to examine how the current legal framework may be impacted by these advances. Potential topics to be discussed during the day include:

• How are trends and impacts of changing societal values and technological advances expressed/represented in the current law?
• How can compliance with the AWA and PHS Act serve to improve science and reduce distress and pain in animals?
• What additional resources, if any, are likely to be needed, if compliance becomes more complex or far reaching?

The ad hoc planning committee will organize the two activities, develop the webinar content and the workshop agenda, select and invite speakers and discussants, and moderate the discussions. An individually authored Proceedings of a Workshop-in Brief of the presentations and discussions at the workshop will be prepared by a designated rapporteur in accordance with institutional guidelines. There will be no written product from the webinar.

The workshop will be co-hosted by the Animal Law and Policy Program and the Petrie-Flom Center for Health Law Policy, Biotechnology and Bioethics of the Harvard Law School.