Scientists associated with Indian National Science Academy (INSA), Indian Pharmacological Society, Association of Physiologists and Pharmacologists of India (APPI) and Indian Nutrition Society will soon request the government to bring the Committee for the Purpose of Control and Supervision of Experiments on Animals (CPCSEA) under the administrative control of Ministry of Science and Technology.

The scientists who joined here to discuss the issues in use of large animals in biomedical research were vocal on the need to bring about the change as they felt that S&T ministry should be in charge of animal experimentation approvals, which is very crucial in drug discovery programmes.

The brain storming session saw the scientists deliberate on the need to form facilities of international standards for large animals. The scientists would recommend the setting up of at least three world class large animal breeding centres as public-private ventures. Simplification of CPCSEA norms on large animal testing, import of large animals and clarification of contract research activity were other points discussed in the meeting.

The possibilities of empowering and strengthening institutional ethics committees for decisions on the use of large animals and introduction of time schedule for approval of projects were other points of discussion.

The import of large animals continues to be a problem area for most of the drug research firms/institutions. The scientists wanted the introduction of a 'single window clearance system' for large animal imports to save time and resources currently wasted on this account. The restrictions on use of large animals in human resource training institutes/universities were also flayed. The scientists felt that there is an urgent need to have skilled staff having hands on training to conduct animal experimentation in various research labs of the country. It can only happen if the students are given an opportunity to conduct experiments on large animals at the institutional level itself, they felt.

The recommendations of the session are to be submitted to the Planning Commission's working group on policies, administrative changes for improvement in S&T, research environment and resource.