Unit-4 Jurisprudence PREVENTION OF CRUELTY TO ANIMALS ACT, 1960

 Introduction:

 Animals are used for Experimentation and Research work on drugs by various Educational Institutions and Research organizations for scientific purpose since a very long time. It becomes very essential also to use animals for such scientific purpose to find out the action of Newly Invented drugs on these animals before using them on Human Beings. However such animals are inflicted with lot of injuries and treated cruelly many times which results in a lot of pain suffered by these animals and also unnecessary killing of such Animals, including unnecessary use of Animals for Experimental purpose or for Demonstration purpose. For Example: Use of frogs for Experiments in Educational Institutions has resulted in almost extinction of Frogs.

Therefore to prevent unnecessary use and infliction of pain or injury or killing of such Animals just for Experimental purpose and for Research purpose “Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act” was implemented in 1960 which extends to the whole of country. The main objectives of this act are:-

1).To prevent use of Animals for Experiments or for Research work without a valid reason as far as possible.

2). To prevent unnecessary infliction of pain or injury or killing of Animals during and after Experimentation.

3).Accordingly to constitute a central committee called as “Committee for the purpose of Control and supervision of Experiments on Animals” i.e. CPCSEA which shall have the powers to Register such Institutions which would like to use Animals for Experiments or Research work and supervise their activities.

4). To Register “Institutional Animal Ethics Committees” i.e. IAEC of such Institutions or organizations which would like to use Animals for Experiments or for Research work.

5). To Register and allow the Breeding of Animals by any Individual or an Institution.

6). To ensure the safety of Animals used for Experiments and Research work

COMMITTEE FOR THE PURPOSE OF CONTROL AND SUPERVISION OF EXPERIMENTS ON ANIMALS OR (CPCSEA): -

Constitution and Functions of CPCSEA: 

Constitution: CPCSEA is constituted by the Central Govt. under the provisions of “Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act 1960”. It is constituted by the nomination of various persons from Educational Institutions, Research organizations, NGO’s taking care of Animals, Veterinary organizations, Animal welfare Board of India, and other Individuals who are working on animal welfare. It may be reconstituted at any time by the central govt. with a 3years time limit for each term. Normally one of the members so nominated may also be nominated as chairman of the committee by the Central Govt. only.

CPCSEA may establish Regional committees of CPCSEA for different regions like south, North, West and Eastern regions of CPCSEA. It may also constitute any number of sub committees and entrust them with various functions and activities related to Animal care and Welfare. Staff of CPCSEA shall be appointed by CPCSEA only with appropriate salaries and duties of such staff.

Functions (Duties and Powers of CPCSEA):- 

following are some of the important duties and powers of CPCSEA.

1). To Register Individuals or organizations who would like to Breed the Animals to be used for Experiments.

2). To Register and Approve the Educational Institutions and Research organizations which would like to use Animals for Experimentation in the name of IAEC.

3). To prescribe the conditions for using Animals for the purpose of Experimentation and Research work.

4). To Inspect, supervise, verify and satisfy itself that the conditions of using Animals for Experiments or Research are being properly followed by such organizations.

5). To suspend or cancel the Registration of any such organizations which commit an offence under the Act or which do not fulfill any of the conditions prescribed for using Animals.

6). To forward the Reports of all such Inspections made, action taken etc. to “The Animal Welfare Board of India” at regular intervals.

“Institutional Animal Ethics Committee”: (IAEC) 

Constitution and Functions of IAEC: 

Constitution: 

An “Institutional Animals Ethics committee” is required to be constituted or nominated by the Dean/Principal or Head of an Institution as per the norms and conditions prescribed by the CPCSEA under Rule 13 of Breeding and Experimentation on Animals (Control and Supervision) of 1998. It is constituted with the following members:

1). A Chairperson who shall be from outside the Institution.

2). A member secretary who may be the Dean, principal or Head of the Institution or one of the faculty members.

3). Two faculty members of the Institution who are involved in Animal Experimentation or Research.

4). One Veterinary practitioner who is involved in the care and treatment of Animals.

5). A Technician or the person incharge of “Animal House” of the Institution.

6). A Scientist from outside the Institution.

7). One person from an NGO which is Registered and who is taking care of Animals.

8). One Representative nominated by CPCSEA.

9). One specialist in Microbiology or Radiology while handling Radioactive substances or deadly microorganisms used on Animals.

Member secretary shall supervise the activities of all the Experiments carried out on Animals and maintain a Record of all such activities. He shall get the IAEC Registered by the Regional CPCSEA and get it renewed as and when it expires. He shall also call the meetings of the IAEC as and when necessary and maintain a Record of such meetings. He has to forward the related documents to CPCSEA at regular Intervals.

Functions: Following are some important functions of IAEC:-

1). It will review and approve all Research proposals involving the use of Animals for Experiments to ensure the safety and welfare of such Animals.

2). If Higher Animals are required for Experiments, it shall forward the application with its recommendation for approval to CPCSEA (Regional or Head office, New Delhi).

3). It shall supervise the process of Experiments carried out in the Institution.

4). It shall Inspect the ‘Animal House’ at regular intervals to ensure proper maintenance and safety of Animals.

5). It shall grant permission to use animals for Experiments.

6). It shall maintain a Record of all the inspections, observations made, action taken, animals used, Etc., and forward the same to “CPCSEA for approval.

Conditions / Procedure to be followed by persons using Animals for Experimentation or for Research :

1). Any person who wishes to carry out Experiments on Animals in an Educational Institution or Research organization shall submit an application in the prescribed form to IAEC of the Institution providing detailed information about the purpose and the type of Animals to be used.

2). If the member secretary of IAEC is satisfied of the information provided by the Applicant, shall approve / grant the permission in writing to the applicant for using Animals.

3). The person or persons who are using Animals should use smaller animals than bigger animals for Experimentation as far as possible.

4).They shall ensure that use of Animals for Experiments is avoided as far as

possible by using models or computers.

5). They shall use Animals only when it becomes absolutely essential.

6). They shall ensure avoiding unnecessary infliction of injury or pain to the Animals during experimentation.

7).They shall ensure the safety of Animals as far as possible during and after experiments.

8). They shall kill the Animals only when it becomes unavoidable and dispose them as per the instructions / directions of IAEC and CPCSEA.

9). They shall Ensure that the Animals which survive after experimentation are returned to the ‘Animal House’ and taken care of them properly.

10). They shall maintain a Record of Experiments carried out, Animals used, Animals died during Experiments, Animals survived after Experiments, Etc. and submit the same to IAEC.

11).Person In charge of the Animal House should take care of all the Animals and maintain a record of Breeding of Animals, type of Animals kept, food provided, precautions taken for their safety, temperature at which Animals to be kept, Etc. and submit the Record of the same during Inspection to any of the Authorized person from IAEC or CPCSEA.

12). Permission given to a person or to IAEC is liable to be suspended or cancelled if they have not fulfilled any of the conditions and guidelines prescribed by CPCSEA.

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