No Unnecessary Duplication Explaination

The Animal Welfare Act (AWA) requires that “…the P.I. provide written assurance that the activities do not unnecessarily duplicate previous experiments.” In making an application to the IACUC to perform teaching activities for students in the professional veterinary curriculum, there is no requirement for a formal literature search for unnecessary duplication of effort (Section III). However, the statement below can be considered for use or modification for Section III.D. of the application as an explanation for why the proposed activity is not unnecessary duplication.

The purpose of this proposed teaching activity is to help familiarize students enrolled in a formal professional educational curriculum with fundamental skills needed to become a competent, practicing veterinarian. Veterinarians commonly perform the activities described in practice situations. It is imperative that procedures that require a degree of technical competence are best learned and practiced in a controlled teaching environment, supervised by a qualified instructor, and are not learned or perfected on client-owned animals. Since graduates are fully credentialed to practice veterinary medicine, the College has an obligation to provide students with practical training, experience, and achievement of reasonable skills in clinical procedures that the public would expect a competent veterinarian to possess. This proposal is a part of that basic, professional education. Therefore, the activity as proposed here does not constitute unnecessary duplication of effort.

The statement above does not substitute for the requirement for a literature search for duplication of effort in an experimental protocol, or for a search for alternatives to painful procedures requested in Section VI.D.