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Oklahoma State University

Animals in Research and Teaching

cows in a field

Statement on Animal Use

Oklahoma State University has many basic and applied research programs focused on animal and human health. The College of Veterinary Medicine has research and teaching programs aimed at training competent, confident, practice-ready veterinarians and improving the health and well-being of animals and humans, and these programs involve the use of animals.  We are committed to ethical and responsible animal use and have an animal care and use program that provides a humane and compliant environment for all animals involved in research, teaching, and testing activities.

We take the responsibility associated with these activities very seriously.  Animal and human well-being depends on the many advances that have been made in the prevention and treatment of disease.  These advances are based on scientific evidence about the causes of disease, how disease affects the body, and drugs, medical devices, and surgical procedures that cure disease.  New threats from emerging and re-emerging diseases appear on a continuing basis.  The tools for prevention and treatment of disease are based on knowledge from a variety of scientific and clinical disciplines in animal and human biology and medicine and from experimentation with both animal and human subjects.

Animal based research has played a critical role in virtually every major medical advance of the last century – for both human and animal health.  Since 1979, every Nobel Prize in Medicine awarded, with one exception, was dependent on data from animal models.

From antibiotics to blood transfusions, dialysis to organ-transplantation, vaccinations to chemotherapy, bypass surgery to joint replacement, practically every present day protocol for the prevention, treatment, cure, and control of disease, pain, and suffering has at its core knowledge attained through research that included work with animals.

“Virtually every medical achievement of the last century has depended directly or indirectly on research with animals.”

—U.S. Public Health Service

Animal Use at OSU

Oklahoma State University (OSU) has an animal care and use program that provides a humane and compliant environment for all animals involved in research, teaching, and testing activities.

All research, teaching, and testing activities involving live, vertebrate animals must be approved by the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC).

Federal Laws and Guidelines

Numerous laws, policies, and regulations govern the use of animals in research, teaching, and testing. The federal government has provided guidance in many areas. Links to these important documents follow.


OSU's Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee has developed policies to assist you in understanding the various laws and regulations governing animal use. They can be reviewed at the Animal Use Policies webpage.

Animal Research Background