PNNL

Abstract

I was asked to submit a response to the Protocol Review forum for the journal LabAnimal by Dr. Jerald Silverman. This forum request views and opinions on issues that are faced by research animal welfare committees. The particular issue is: “Dr. John Smith, a distinguished investigator at Great Eastern University, had spent his career searching for a treatment for hearing loss. After 20 years of research, he developed a drug that potentially could improve auditory function after damage to the inner ear. The drug was administered by injection into the middle ear with the use of a fine needle inserted through the eardrum. Smith submitted a protocol to the IACUC to conduct a small study on cats, proposing to treat one group of animals with the drug and another with saline, to determine if it prevented the changes in the anatomy of the inner ear that normally occur with aging.