In a move that could be of immense help to the Indian research community engaged in animal trials, the Committee for the Purpose of Control and Supervision of Experiments on Animals (CPCSEA) under the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests has decided to recommend a stand-by nominee to the Institutional Animal Ethics Committees (IAEC) attached to the institutions across the country. The IAECs will now have two nominees from CPCSEA though only one person would be attending the meetings. Whenever the regular nominee finds it difficult to attend a particular meeting, the stand-by person would make sure that the animal experiment proposals are screened by the IAECs without delay.

The CPCSEA decision is to put an end to the researchers' most common complaint against the body, which is about the "veto" power of the CPCSEA nominee.

There have been several instances in the past when IAEC meetings were postponed/cancelled/rescheduled to match the convenience of the CPCSEA nominee.

Under normal circumstances, the stand-by nominee is not expected to be part of IAEC meetings, but would be expected to make periodic visits to the animal facility and report back to CPCSEA.

The CPCSEA is in the process finalizing its nominees and the standbys to all the IAECs of the country. It is known that the committee has already completed appointing both nominee and stand-by to more than 800 IAECs. The CPCSEA is soon to intimate the IAECs about the new appointments. Each IAEC is to get two members from the committee.

Contrary to the previous selection procedures, where "love for animals" was the only criterion for identification of a nominee, the CPCSEA has taken a realistic approach this time. A sub-committee of the body, which included animal activists as well as scientists, was allowed to make thorough scrutiny and do a rational selection of its nominees (and stand-bys) for each and every IAEC, it is learnt.

Sources said that the nominees were selected based on their general understanding of animal experimentation and basic scientific knowledge. According to CPCSEA sources, the committee is making a sincere effort to shed its alleged anti-animal research stand and is trying to see that no genuine research proposal gets delayed due to unnecessary regulations. It is also ensuring that no animal/no additional animal is sacrificed without proper requirement.