USDA Pain Categories
= ; &n= bsp; According to regulatory agencies, all vertebrate animals used in research, teaching or testing must be assigned to an appropriate pain category. The chart below outlines these categories and a few of the examples for each. If you are in doubt as to which ca= tegory your animals may fall under, please contact the DLAR veterinarians.
|
USDA Category=
B |
USDA Category=
C |
USDA Category=
D |
USDA Category=
E |
|
Breeding
or Holding Colony Protocols |
No
more than momentary or slight pain or distress and no use of pain-relievi=
ng
drugs, or no pain or distress. For example:
euthanatized for tissues; just observed under normal conditions; positive
reward projects; routine procedures; injections; and blood sampling. |
Pain
or distress appropriately relieved with anesthetics, analgesics and/or
tranquilizer drugs or other methods for relieving pain or distress. |
Pain
or distress or potential pain or distress that is not relieved with
anesthetics, analgesics and/or tranquilizer drugs or other methods for
relieving pain or distress. |
(Note: there is=
no
USDA Pain Category A.)
A simple definition of a painful or distressful procedure on an animal in thi= s:
“A procedur= e that would cause pain or distress in a human.”
&= nbsp; It is important to remember and understand that if an animal will need to unde= rgo multiple procedures, it must be placed in the category indicated for the mo= st painf= ul/distressful procedure it will be experiencing. Also note that a single animal cannot be placed in multiple categories.
&= nbsp; Pain categories are described as follows:
Category B animals are those that= are being “bred”, conditioned, or held for use in teaching, testing, experiments, research, or surgery but not yet used for such purposes.” These animals have not been used for any research procedure, however minor.= Category B is the place to put bre= eders and other animals that are not undergoing any experimental procedures.
Category C animals are not subjec= ted to procedures that involve pain or distress or would require the use of pain-relieving drugs. Routine= procedures such as injections and blood sampling from veins that produce only mild, transient pain or discomfort are reported in this category. Another example of Category C proc= edures is an observational study of animal behavior. Animals that are euthanized bef= ore tissue collection or other manipulations are also commonly placed in this category, if no other procedures performed that put them in a higher pain/distress category.
Category D animals are those subj= ected to potentially painful procedures for which anesthetics, analgesics, or tranquilizers will be used. T= he important concept is that animals are given appropriate anesthesia and/or p= ain relief to limit their pain and distress as much as possible.
Examples of category D procedures are
§ Surgery conducted with appropriate anesthesia and postoperative analgesia;
§ Rodent retro-orbital eye bleeding performed under anesthesia;
§ Non-human primate tattooing performed for identification under anesthesia;
§ Removal of small tumors under local or gener= al anesthesia, and use of analgesia after an animal’s skin is exposed to ultraviolet light to cause a “sunburn”; and
§ Terminal exsanguinations (euthanasia by remo= val of blood) under anesthesia
Category E animals are those that= are subjected to painful or stressful procedures without the use of anesthetics, analgesics, or tranquilizers. Withholding of anesthetics, analgesics, or tranquilizers can only be allowed if it is scientifically justified in writing and approved by the IACUC. Examples of category E= procedures are lethal dose studies (e.g. LD50 studies) that allow animals to die witho= ut intervention, pain studies that would not be possible if pain-relieving age= nts were administered, and psychological conditioning experiments that involve painful stimuli such as noxious electrical shock that cannot immediately be avoided by an animal.
&=
nbsp; By
law, the institution must annually report all category E procedures to the =
USDA
and include a scientific justification supporting the IACUC’s decisio=
n to
approve them. It is important=
for
the information on category E procedures to be complete and accurate 1=
.
&n= bsp; = ; &n= bsp; = ; &n= bsp; = ; 1. descriptive text from AALAS Learning Library tra= ining module &= nbsp;