The use of animals for scientific purposes is regulated in Singapore under the Animals and Birds (Care and Use of Animals for Scientific Purposes) Rules. Researchers can only conduct work on animals after obtaining written approval from the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC). Examples of scientific purposes include ‘teaching, field work, environmental studies, research, diagnostics, product testing, and the production of biological products’.

Singapore's National Advisory Committee for Laboratory Animal Research (NACLAR) Guidelines provides the framework for institutional compliance to the Rules. NTU's policy on the Care and Use of Live Animals in Research and Teaching is applicable to all NTU personnel involved in animal work. The policy covers the following broad requirements: 

(A) Training Requirements

• All personnel involved in animal work must have both theory and practical RCULA certification, or the equivalent.
• Such personnel must obtain theory recertification training every 5 years and those with hands-on practice lapse of 2 or more years should attend hands-on refresher training or assessment of competency.
• Please visit our training guidelines for more information. 

(B) Obtaining IACUC Approvals

NTU PIs are required to have NTU-IACUC approval regardless of where work on animals is to be done.

• The categories of review can be found on our guidelines page. 
• All NTU-IACUC applications and supporting documents must be submitted through the Ethics Review Management Portal (ERMP). PIs must adhere to NTU-IACUC’s Policies on Special Procedures throughout their study and any exemptions to these policies must be stated and justified in the application form. 
• Visit our Applications and Procedures page for guides related to ERMP.

(C) Annual Review of Approved Protocols

• All active NTU-IACUC protocols must be reviewed by the IACUC on an annual basis to ensure compliance to approved protocol.
• PIs are to monitor the numbers of animals used, as well as the breeding numbers.
• Refer to the following user guide on initiating the Annual Review process.

(D) Occupational Health and Safety

To ensure a safe work environment of all personnel involved in animal work, adherence to workplace safety measures established by the Office of Health, Safety and Emergency (OHSE) must be adhered to at all times. These include conducting project risk assessments prior to study commencement and ensuring that all personnel involved in the study have received stipulated vaccinations. 

Refer to the OHS Policy Statement for more information. 

(E) Reporting of Incidents & Animal Welfare Concerns

• PIs are required to report any incidents to IACUC. An Incident may include any Adverse events, Unexpected outcomes, Unpredicted phenotypes, or Non-compliances. 
• Concerns related to animal welfare can be reported to NTU via the University's procedure for Responding to Allegations / Complaints of Research Misconduct. Alternatively, concerns can be raised to NTU-IACUC via our email. 
  

For more details on the various procedures, please refer to RIEO's intranet page.