ICMR to send view on draft animal law to MoEF in 2 weeks

Amid concerns in the scientific community over some aspects of draft Animal Welfare Act, the Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR) today held an interaction with stakeholders and said "consensus points" will be agreed upon and forwarded to the environment ministry in 2 weeks.
    
The meeting convened by ICMR was attended by officials from Department of Science and Technology, Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, National Institute of Nutrition, Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF), among others.
    
"Strong opinions have been expressed about some aspects of the draft Act. So, we wanted to know what are the main issues which are bothering the stakeholders," ICMR director general V M Katoch told PTI.
    
"We discussed which issues should be there in the guidelines. The consensus points will be agreed upon and a common view formulated on what aspects should be looked into before the Act is sent before Parliament. We plan to send it to the ministry of environment in two weeks," he said.
    
The scientific community has expressed concern over several aspects of the draft law, including those related to stringent punishment including jail terms for not taking proper care of experimental animals like mice and rabbits.
    
More than 500 institutions, including biomedical research centres, pharma companies and scientific institutions under the ICMR use experimental animals.
    
Many stakeholders claim that the harsh provisions of the draft law might affect research in the country.