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Definition of Pain and Distress and Reporting Requirements for Laboratory Animals Proceedings of the Workshop Held June 22, 2000 (2000) / Chapter Skim
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The Humane Society of the United States Pain and Distress Initiative
Pages 31-36

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From page 31...
... Second, we have sent out five letters over the past 2 years to IACUCs as part of our outreach to research institutions. We are focusing on the IACUC as the institutional entity because we believe it has the appropriate oversight responsibility for this topic.
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From page 32...
... What we think is the main issue is that we disagree on definitions and on the interpretation of what few empirical data are currently available to guide us in deciding what causes animal distress. That is where I see the disagreement, and if there are friction and unhappiness with the HSUS pain and distress initiative, we would like to see the debate focus on how we differ as regards definitions and the like.
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From page 33...
... Whether or not these baseline states cause distress is a function of intensity and duration. A low stimulus for a long time may cause distress whereas an intense stimulus for a moment may not.
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From page 34...
... , now at Johns Hopkins University, acquired four cages with activity wheels attached and looked at nocturnal activity of the animals based very simply on the number of times the activity wheel turned every night. In a normal cage of four mice, the activity wheel turned 1600 revolutions per night.
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From page 35...
... It is a relatively simple measure, and it is easy to obtain. Most stresses induce a transient decrease in feeding, an increase in the metabolic rate, and a negative energy balance due apparently to a biomechanism involving the actions of corticotrophin releasing factor and local cytokines (Dallman 2000~.
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From page 36...
... This area is where we believe we need data and a detailed discussion between researchers, laboratory animal care staff, and animal protectionists to develop appropriate guidelines. Although IASP developed guidelines, it did not produce guidelines for categories of mild, moderate, and severe pain.
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Key Terms

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  • severe pain
  • nociceptive reflex
  • pain research
  • laboratory animal

  • activity wheel
  • baseline states
  • animal distress
  • humane society
  • cause distress

  • dog model
  • hsus pain
  • central nervous
  • organic location
  • animal care

  • standard growth
  • individual institutions
  • growth curve
  • spinal cord
  • biomedical progress

  • anecdotal data
  • painful stimulus
  • animal controls
  • characterize typically
  • literature describe

  • evolutionary reason
  • local cytokines
  • distress whereas
  • initiative consists
  • hsus white


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