DOD Animal Research: Improvements Needed in Quality of Biomedical Research Database
NSIAD/HEHS-99-24
Published: Dec 14, 1998. Publicly Released: Jan 15, 1999.
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Highlights
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Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO examined several issues related to the Department of Defense's (DOD) administration of its animal research programs, focusing on: (1) the extent to which DOD's research using animals addresses validated military objectives, does not unnecessarily duplicate work done elsewhere, and incorporates methods to reduce, replace, and refine the use of animals; and (2) problems with the accuracy of information in the Biomedical Research Database (BRD).
Recommendations
Recommendations for Executive Action
| Agency Affected | Recommendation | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Department of Defense | The Secretary of Defense should continue to take steps to improve the BRD. Specifically, the Secretary should improve the data collection and reporting procedures to ensure that the BRD contains accurate, detailed information about individual animal research projects, including information on the number and species of animals used in each project, the research goal and justification, and the pain categories for each project as identified in House Report 103-499. |
DOD partially concurred with the recommendations to improve the quality of information on animal use activities contained in the BRD. DOD has taken steps to improve its data collection and reporting procedures but believes that providing further detailed information on the number and species of animals and pain categories for each project would require extensive upgrading of the database software and hardware capacity. DOD implemented the following changes: training veterinarians associated with animal use approvals in the use of the BRD, requiring the reporting of information on animal use categories for each project, revising the format for reporting funding data on projects, and clarifying reporting instructions to include all projects that use animals in any phase.
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| Department of Defense | To improve public accountability, the Secretary of Defense should provide other information in the BRD, such as the appropriate animal use categories for each project, consistent with information reported in the DOD's annual reports to Congress, and ensure that the information contained in the BRD be presented in a uniform manner for all projects. |
DOD concurred with the recommendation to improve public accountability and provide additional information on animal use categories in the BRD. DOD is also placing its annual report to Congress on animal use activities and the fiscal year 1999 BRD information on a publicly accessible website. The database can be queried for specific information about projects. DOD plans to include reports and data from subsequent years on the website.
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