NEW IBC POLICY – 30-day Comment Period | UCLA Research Safety & Animal Welfare Administration

The Institutional Biosafety Committee (IBC) is working to formalize the previously unwritten guidance regarding transport of biohazardous animals into a Policy. The draft Policy – Transport of Animals Containing Biohazardous Materials – is in the final stages of review; as such, we are opening a 30-day comment period for researchers to provide feedback.

If the IBC receives no comments, the Policy will be approved as written, effective July 11, 2018.
If the IBC does receive comments, the committee will review those comments and vote on the Policy at a future convened meeting.

The text of the Policy is below. Please contact us with your comments or if you have any questions. Thank you in advance for your feedback.

Transport of Animals Containing Biohazardous Materials

Introduction
Removal of biohazardous animals from the vivarium increases the potential for escape of the animals and resultant loss of containment, either during transport or during any procedures that will take place in a non-vivarium facility. There is also the concern that any non-vivarium facilities to which biohazardous animals may be taken may not meet the containment requirements for the designated Animal Biosafety Level (ABSL). Other issues to consider when transporting biohazardous animals out of containment include the risk of spills in public areas; proper disposal of dirty cages, carcasses and other waste; animal welfare and security issues; and exposure of individuals to laboratory animal allergens.

The specific containment level criteria that must be met for all destination locations are outlined in Section V of the CDC/NIH Biosafety in Microbiological and Biomedical Laboratories (BMBL) and Appendix G of the NIH Guidelines for Research Involving Recombinant or Synthetic Nucleic Acid Molecules (NIH Guidelines).

Scope
This policy applies to live animals that fall under the purview of the Institutional Biosafety Committee (IBC) and are housed at ABSL2 or higher containment.

Policy
The goal of this policy is to minimize the number of live biohazardous animals that are removed from the vivarium and ensure that IBC-approved transfers are conducted properly. Transfers must be performed in accordance with the EH&S SOP titled “Biohazardous Animal: Transport” or other IBC-approved SOP. If animals are euthanized at the destination location, carcasses must be disposed of in accordance with the EH&S SOP titled “Biohazardous Animal: Disposal” or other IBC-approved SOP. In all cases, the source location and destination location must be documented and approved in the Principal Investigator’s Biological Use Authorization (BUA) prior to the transfer taking place.

Transfer between vivaria
Animals may be transferred between vivaria when the destination location meets the containment level requirements approved by the IBC for those animals. This type of transfer does not require submission of scientific justification to the IBC and must be performed by DLAM staff unless other arrangements have been made in advance with DLAM.

Example: Animals that have been approved by the IBC for containment at ABSL2 are being transferred to an approved ABSL2 (or higher) vivarium.

Transfer to laboratory or other non-vivarium facility
Animals may not be transferred to a laboratory or other facility unless the IBC deems this transfer to be scientifically justified. Examples of scientific justification include the need for large or specialized equipment that cannot be transported to the vivarium or the time-sensitive nature of a procedure (e.g., decrease in tissue viability if there are delays between euthanasia and tissue collection).

These requests must be documented in the Operations and Procedures page of the Principal Investigator’s BUA. The IBC will review the scientific justification provided for such transfers and determine if the justification is adequate. The review will be performed by either the Full Committee or a Designated Member Reviewer, depending on the materials that are used.

Example: Animals that have been approved by the IBC for containment at ABSL2 are being transferred to the PI’s laboratory for euthanasia and necropsy.

References