Special Satellite Session Theme D

SSD: Achievements in Raising Awareness on the Use of Alternative Methods in Latin America and the Caribbean
G. Murillo, L.U. Perez, J.R. Pascual, and E. Tur. Laboratory for Alternative Methods, Center for Toxicology and Biomedicine, Santiago de Cuba, Cuba 90400. uperez@toxi.scu.sld.cu.

Activities to promote the awareness and acceptance of alternatives in Latin America and the Caribbean were initiated four years ago. As a result, information about the Three R's has been distributed to students, teachers, researchers and authorities in more than two hundred academic and research centers from seventeen countries. Short courses and lecture series were presented to hundreds of attendees from those sectors. Many educators have already been persuaded of the advantages of using alternatives. So far, models, software, and videos have been used, and further resources are being produced in Spanish to assist the replacement of animal use in practical classes. As an integral part and a remarkable event of the project, the First Caribbean and Latin American Workshop on Alternative Methods was held in Santiago de Cuba, on December 2001. In spite of these accomplishments, much still needs to be done in order to increase the use of alternatives in various fields of scientific and educational activity within the region. The commitment is still strong and further initiatives will ensue.

SSD: A UK Overview, and the Search for the Alternative (Wo)man
Manuel Berdoy. Oxford University Veterinary Services, Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3PT, UK. manuel.berdoy@vet.ox.ac.uk.

SSD: The European Resource Centre for Alternatives in HE (EURCA: http://www.e urca.org)
J. de Boo¹, J. van der Valk¹, and D. Dewhurst². NCA, Dept. Animals & Society, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Utrecht University, The Netherlands and 1Learning Technology Section, Faculty Group of Medicine & Veterinary Medicine, The University of Edinburgh, EH8 9XD, UK. d.dewhurst@ed.ac.uk.

This is an exciting new joint project that aims to help teachers to be more creative in teaching and learning approaches, to foster high quality training for science students, and to significantly reduce the number of animals used unnecessarily in teaching. These goals will be achieved by:

1. Establishing a resource center-–a collection of mainly electronic alternatives and taking this to relevant scientific meetings in Europe where it would function as a drop-in advice center for teachers;
2. Assembling a group of academic teachers who actively use alternatives to take responsibility for disseminating information about alternatives to other teachers in the European Community, to participate in the activity outlined above, and to share experiences and good practice guidance;
3. Setting up an Internet website with an expansive, content-rich database (reviews, demos, evaluations, links to users, etc.) on selected 'tried and tested' alternatives; and
4. Encouraging and promoting the findings of evaluative studies on the effectiveness of alternatives in HE.

The presentation will focus on how this project could meet the needs of teachers, strategies that could be employed to assemble the academic advocates, and strategies to encourage evaluative studies and international cooperation.

SSD: The Alternative Methods of Teaching Should Become Traditional
M. Makarchuk and T. Kutsenko. Department of Human and Animal Physiology, Kyiv National Taras Shevchenko University, Kyiv, 01033, Ukraine. nikmak@biocc.univ.kiev.ua.

In connection with the general democratic changes occurring in independent Ukraine, and due to closer dialogue between the public and state organizations of Ukraine and other countries moving toward democracy, there is increasing interest in promoting humane attitudes toward animals. To apply alternative methods of teaching of biology, and especially physiology and anatomy, it is necessary to overcome the centuries-old tradition of vivisection and killing of animals for the sake of teaching and the indifference toward animal suffering that those practices have caused. Even long before the introduction of computer methods of training in our department, many practical works were modified and carried out with the participation of students--EEG and ECG, heart rate variability, and so forth. With the financial support of RSPCA, and with the active participation in the International society "SOS" by our department, we established a computer-based class and educational programs. Through this relationship, we have changed the program of practical lessons for the full course of physiology and anatomy and have almost completely eliminated the use of animals in the educational process. Use of alternatives in practice creates a new tradition, one that, at some future point in human development, may well be considered the only responsible and ethical approach.

SSD: Online Learning Management Systems for Laboratory Technicians and Researchers
N.E. Duffee, M.T. Fallon. American Association for Laboratory Animal Science, 9190 Crestwyn Hills Dr., Memphis, Tennessee, 38125, USA. nicole.duffee@aalas.org.

Web-based online course management systems offer many advantages in providing a large audience with round-the-clock access to education and training with rich course content. The laboratory animal community is increasingly willing to utilize online learning. Staff members are computer literate, computers are becoming accepted learning tools, and computer systems with multimedia capability are affordable. Learning management systems in addition offer a training documentation system that may facilitate compliance with the training mandates applicable to animal research. The development, operation, challenges, and future plans will be described for two web-based learning management systems in the laboratory animal field: 1) ResearchTraining.Org (http://www.researchtraining.org) developed by the Medical Research Service in the Office of Research and Development, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, and 2) The AALAS Campus (http://www.aalascampus.org) developed by the American Association for Laboratory Animal Science.

SSD: The Institute for Laboratory Animal Research (ILAR) as an Information Resource on Alternatives
J. Zurlo. Institute for Laboratory Animal Research, National Research Council, Washington, DC 20418, USA. jzurlo@nas.edu.

ILAR, which was established in 1952, develops guidelines and disseminates information on the scientific, technological, and ethical use of animals and related biological resources in research, testing, and education. ILAR promotes high quality, humane care of animals and the appropriate use of animals and alternatives. ILAR functions within the mission of the National Academy of Sciences as an advisor to the federal government, the biomedical research community, animal care and use committees, and the public. To fulfill its mission, ILAR publishes a peer-reviewed, quarterly publication, ILAR Journal, each issue of which is theme-based and is frequently focused on a topic relevant to the reduction, refinement, and replacement of animal use. Recent topics have included non-invasive technologies, humane endpoints, and human-animal interactions in the laboratory. ILAR's balanced, committee-authored reports provide scientifically based documentation for the humane use of animals, including the Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals, The Psychological Well-Being of Nonhuman Primates, and Recognition and Alleviation of Pain and Distress in Laboratory Animals. ILAR also maintains an interactive web site with links to many alternatives-related sites and is a member of the Altweb project team.