FELASA Symposium 4-17 June 2004, Nantes, France
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a1 Internationalisation and Harmonisation of Laboratory Animal Care and Use Issues Proceedings of the 9th FELASA Symposium 4-17 June 2004, Nantes, France (Cover design: Chateau des Ducs de Bretagne, Nantes, by Malcolm Gamble © 2004) a2 a3 Internationalisation and Harmonisation of Laboratory Animal Care and Use Issues Proceedings of the 9th FELASA Symposium 4-17 June 2004, Nantes, France Organised by Association Française des Sciences et Techniques de l’Animal de Laboratoire ISBN: 0 - 901334 - 20 - 0 Edited by Malcolm R Gamble, BSc PhD CBiol FIBiol Sue Millington, BA FELASA, 25 Shaftesbury Ave., London W1D 7EG, UK a4 “Wherever possible, specialists should not be segregated in separate laboratories. The aim should rather be to assemble as many different kinds as possible under one roof.” Russell & Burch (1959) Acknowledgements FELASA and AFSTAL are most grateful to the following companies for sponsorship: Laboratory Animals Limited, UK Charles River Laboratories, France Dietex France SDS, France École Nationale Vétérinaire de Nantes, France Harlan France Pfi zer Global Research & Development, Europe R.C.Hartelust B.V., The Netherlands Sanofi -Synthélabo Recherche, France a5 Laboratory Animals Ltd Registered Offi ce: 20 Queensberry Place, London SW7 2DX, UK www.lal.org.uk Laboratory Animals Ltd have sponsored the publication of these Proceedings. Laboratory Animals Ltd – the company Laboratory Animals Ltd. was formed in 1967 as a limited company with charitable status. Its main aim is to promote education and training in laboratory animal science. This is achieved primarily through publication of the journal Laboratory Animals, but a variety of other activities are supported. For example, the company maintains a very active internet site, publishes books in the series Laboratory Animal Handbooks, sponsors speakers at scientifi c meetings, provides training grants for individuals wishing to develop their expertise in laboratory animal science, and supports the activities of FELASA. Laboratory Animals – the journal Laboratory Animals has been at the forefront of laboratory animal science for 30 years and is now the offi cial journal of FELASA, as well as of the German (GV-SOLAS), Israeli (ILAF), British (LASA), Dutch (NVP), Spanish (SECAL) and Swiss (SGV) national laboratory animal science associations. The journal publishes papers dealing with all aspects of the use of animals in biomedical research, including: • New animal models • Clinical case reports • Descriptions of new or improved research techniques • Reports on the infl uence of environmental and other variables on research results • Description of techniques which offer replacements for in vivo models • Basic data characterising the haematology, biochemistry or pathology of new or existing animal models The Editorial Board of Laboratory Animals wish to give especial encouragement to appears describing work which involves a reduction in the number of animals that need to be used, or which replaces animals with in vitro alternatives; or which represents a signifi cant refi nement in methodology, leading to improvements in the welfare or well-being of the animals used. There is full on-line access available at no extra charge to subscribers. The journal also publishes book reviews and notices of conferences and meetings of interest to biomedical scientists. The journal has no page charges and is indexed/abstracted in the following: Index Medicus, ISI/BIOMED, Excerpta Medica (EMBASE), Current Contents, CABS (Current Awareness in Biological Sciences) and Chemical Abstracts. For subscription information, please visit the Royal Society of Medicine Press website at www.rsmpress.co.uk/la.htm Additional information can be found at www.lal.org.uk a6 a7 The History of FELASA – Birth and Growth 1978-2004 Guy Mahouy, AFSTAL Honorary President The Federation of European Laboratory Animal Science Associations (FELASA) is composed, at present, of 12 independent European national and regional laboratory animal science associations. It can speak for laboratory animal scientists and technologists in at least 20 countries: Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. A Board consisting of Offi cers and representatives of its constituent associations manages this Federation. Established in 1978, it has signifi cantly grown over the years and is now recognised both at European and international levels. After 27 years of existence, it seems worthwhile to remember why and how such a structure was implemented and what were the initial objectives and mission statements of FELASA. In the mid-seventies, there was a trend in Europe to develop much closer communication links between the different European laboratory animal science associations. Although nothing concrete was done at that time, individuals like Karl-Johan Öbrink, Lars Wass (from Scand-LAS), John Bleby, Philip O’Donoghue, Peter Eaton, Malcolm Gamble, Roy Ward (from LASA), Klaus Bonath, H Bruhin, Anthony Ellery (from GV-SOLAS) and many others were discussing what should be the best way to initiate such a cooperation, particularly the organization of joint scientifi c meetings. Accordingly, the “Preliminary” meeting was the fi rst joint GV-SOLAS/LASA/Scand-LAS meeting on “The Laboratory Rat and Biological Variation” held on 26-28 June 1978 at Churchill College, Cambridge, UK. Representatives of the three associations met and it was suggested that a joint scientifi c meeting should be organized every three years by one of these associations in turn and that the FELASA Presidium should be run by the association arranging the next meeting. This suggestion was formally confi rmed at a meeting in Utrecht on 21 August 1979. Therefore, as the German society proposed to host the symposium in 1981, the FELASA Presidium from 1978 to 1981 was fi lled by the GV-SOLAS President and Secretary. This was the foundation meeting of FELASA by these three European associations. The Federation was soon joined by the Dutch “NVP” and the French “SFEA”, and then progressively by others European associations. The fi rst FELASA Symposium was organized in Düsseldorf, Germany, by GV-SOLAS in 1981 and at the fi rst General Assembly the constitution of FELASA was adopted. This Symposium was followed by others on a three years basis, in Malmö, Sweden (Scand-LAS, 1984), in Amsterdam, the Netherlands (NVP, 1987), in Lyon, France (SFEA now known as AFSTAL, 1990), in Brighton, UK (LASA, 1993), in Basel, Switzerland (GV-SOLAS, 1996), in Palma de Mallorca, Spain (SECAL, 1999), in Aachen, Germany (GV-SOLAS, 2002), in Nantes, France (AFSTAL-ex SFEA, 2004). The organization of these triennial symposia has been the principal activity of FELASA from the outset until 1987, and proved of good service to European laboratory animal science. However, in between these symposia, very little happened and it was clear that some reorganisation had to be considered to address emerging issues. Informal discussions about the role of FELASA were held among offi cers of constituent associations at the third FELASA Symposium in June 1987 in Amsterdam (NVP). It was generally agreed that the Federation should become more active and a meeting was therefore convened in October to see how this could be done. This important joint meeting was organized by Karl-Johan Öbrink and Lars Wass (Scand-LAS) on 17-19 October 1987 at Odalgärden, near Uppsala, Sweden. The aim of this conference was to refl ect on the future of FELASA. All constituent associations were asked to send representatives, and a number of individuals were invited to take part in the discussion. It was a very constructive meeting and the following proposals were made. : 1) To ensure the good functioning and the implementation of new activities for the Federation, it was essential to revise and modify the initial FELASA constitution. One of the reasons was that the President and the Secretary of the constituent association hosting the triennial conference were automatically President and Secretary of the Federation. It was clear that these offi cers were far too busy arranging the next Symposium and did not have the capacity to address other issues. Accordingly, the new constitution should include new organisational structures, which should be revised and accepted by all the constituent associations. The Federation would have a Board of Management in which each constituent association would have two members. The Board would annually elect three offi cers who, together with the President, would be directly responsible for the administrative and organisational work. The most obvious change should be that FELASA would have its own offi cers elected by the Board from amongst its members, with duties and term of service that were not tied to the triennial symposia. 2) The Federation should establish a policy group in order to identify topics for further study. 3) It was seen as essential for FELASA to secure recognition in Europe - through both the Council of Europe and the European Communities Commission - as the authority to be consulted on all matters relating to laboratory animal science, with consequent strong links to Strasbourg and Brussels. 4) A specifi c task of considerable importance should be the production of appropriate education and training programmes for all those involved in the laboratory animal fi eld. A FELASA Working Group on Education should be created to develop a8 training programmes