Photo by Alexandr Gusev on Unsplash
Photo by Alexandr Gusev on Unsplash

EXPERT REACTION: Closure of lab animal supplier could have major impacts for Australian medical research

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The Animal Resources Centre (ARC) in Western Australia, a major supplier of lab animals, is reported to have told customers that it will close in 12-18 months time. The ARC is the major supplier of rats and mice for Australia's biomedical research. It is a self-funding Statutory Authority of the Government of Western Australia. In an email to customers, the ARC says it is winding up on the basis that it is not able to operate in a financially self-sustaining manner, as required by legislation. Below an Australian expert comments. 

Organisation/s: Australian Science Media Centre

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Expert Reaction

These comments have been collated by the Science Media Centre to provide a variety of expert perspectives on this issue. Feel free to use these quotes in your stories. Views expressed are the personal opinions of the experts named. They do not represent the views of the SMC or any other organisation unless specifically stated.

Malcolm France is a veterinarian specialising in the care and management of animals used in research.

The closure of the Animal Resources Centre (ARC) would have major implications for Australia’s medical research effort. ARC has been the major breeder of specialised strains of lab mice and rats for over 30 years and they supply animals to medical research programs at most of Australia’s universities and medical research institutes.

Closure of ARC would not just affect the many medical research programs that depend on these specialised strains of mice and rats, there is also the potential loss of the technical expertise required to breed them.

Breeding the highly specialised strains of mice and rats required for medical research is very demanding. Of course, animal welfare should be top priority but to ensure that research data are reliable, a huge amount of effort also has to go into other aspects of their breeding, especially the genetics.

For example, most lab mice are simply white or black, so without careful genetic monitoring, there is no way of knowing what strain you are working with – which of course is utterly crucial to the quality of the science. ARC has always maintained the highest standards in these aspects of their breeding programs and I can’t see how this can be replaced.

Last updated: 06 Jul 2021 12:19pm
Declared conflicts of interest:
None declared.

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