Breaking barriers to ethical research: An analysis of the effectiveness of nonhuman animal research approval in Canada.

In Canada, all institutions that conduct publicly funded, animal-based research are expected to comply with the standards of the Canadian Council on Animal Care (CCAC). The CCAC promotes the use of animal alternatives, and uses the "3Rs" principles of , and as a guiding ethical framework. To ensure these standards are strictly enforced, internal ethics committees at each institution are tasked with creating "Animal Use Protocol" (AUP) forms to be filled out by researchers and evaluated by the committees.