The Animal Care and Production Unit (Vivarium) provides services to both academic research and industry in order to provide animals used in medical and biotechnology scientific research within the priority R&D areas of Turkey. LifeSci Vivarium received full accreditation in 2017 from the Association for Assessment and Accreditation of Laboratory Animal Care International (AAALAC International), the only authority that can accredit animal centers all over the world, and operates as Turkey’s first and still the only animal unit with AAALAC accreditation.
Whistle Blower Policy
Vivarium provides services within the scope of Boğaziçi University Life Sciences and Technologies Application and Research Center. Our laboratory continues maintaining the AAALAC accreditation that obtained in 2017 with the status of “full accreditation”. All issues related to animal welfare and standardization are meticulously handled in our laboratory. Boğaziçi University IACUC (BÜHADYEK) and the “Animal Welfare Committee” regularly visit the laboratory and monitor the compliance of animal welfare practices. For this reason, it is very important for us that complaints related to animal welfare are evaluated appropriately.
Definition
The European Union defines whistleblowers as “any person who reports or discloses (to the public) unethical conduct committed in a work-related context (within the relevant institution or organization or to an external authority) and helps prevent harm or threats that would otherwise remain confidential and pose a threat or danger to the public interest.” For the purposes of this policy, a whistleblower may be a civilian, employee, manager, faculty member, student, intern, researcher, support staff, supplier or a person visiting the laboratory for any reason.
A whistleblower is protected under this policy if they report a possible non-compliance with animal welfare.
Policy Goals
– To enable anonymous reporting of concerns, complaints and potential non-compliances regarding animal welfare, thus protecting the person making the notification and preventing possible reprisals
– To ensure that reported non-compliances can be reviewed by the “Animal Welfare Committee” and BÜHADYEK in order to make an assessment and report on ethics and animal welfare
– To show the person or persons who will make the complaint the method they should follow in order to effectively convey their complaints in cases where possible non-compliances are detected
Notification Procedure
The mechanisms that allow individuals who detect any violations regarding animal welfare in our laboratory to report anonymously are explained in the following items.
– There is a complaint box at the entrance of the Vivarium. In cases of detection of violations, notification letters to be written anonymously (if requested) are meticulously examined by the Animal Welfare Unit, which meets every three months, and a detailed report on all complaints is sent to BUHADYEK.
– There is contact information hanging in the air shower, which is the entrance and exit section of our laboratory, visible from both the office and laboratory sections. The complaint form on the internet link (https://lifesci.boun.edu.tr/home/whistleblowerpolicy) can be filled out anonymously using the QR code available here.
– Filled out forms are sent anonymously to the Animal Welfare Committee members and are first examined by this committee. The Animal Welfare Committee consists of three people who are both ethics committee members and members of the unit, including the unit coordinator, the veterinarian responsible for the unit, and a member from the university.
– The Animal Welfare Committee meets every three months and visits the unit. During these visits, they evaluate the complaints reported and submit a detailed report to BÜHADYEK.
– The reports submitted are reviewed by BÜHADYEK and decisions are made regarding the necessary actions. These decisions are also stated in the ethics committee meeting minutes clearly.
– Complaints reviewed by the Animal Welfare Committee and BÜHADYEK are reported to the Animal Experiments Center Ethics Committee, which is within the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry and controls the activities of local ethics committees throughout the country, when necessary.