The University of Tasmania Animal Ethics Committee (AEC) has been established under Tasmanian legislation, to oversee the care and use of animals in research and teaching at the University of Tasmania. University staff and students must obtain approval from the Committee if they wish to carry out ANY investigation that involves vertebrate animals or cephalopods which are alive or which are to be killed specifically for the investigation. Approval must be obtained for both research projects and teaching exercises.
The primary role of the Animal Ethics Committee (AEC), is to ensure that all animal care and use conducted by the University of Tasmania is done in accordance with the Australian Code of Practice for the Care and Use of Animals for the Scientific Purposes - 7th Edition 2004 and incorporates the 3R principles of Replacement, Reduction and Refinement. The signed UTAS submission for revisions to the document which was drawn up by the animal ethics committee in collaboration with researchers and other staff at UTAS is also available.
All UTAS researchers who may use animals in their research should have read and understood the: Australian code of practice for the care and use of animals for scientific purposes (2011) before beginning their project.
