Goodbye and good luck
Members of the AgResearch Wallaceville
Animal Ethics Committee receiving
their service awards from NAEAC member,
Dr Roger Marchant
AgResearch Wallaceville Animal Ethics Committee farewelled
The Wallaceville Animal Ethics Committee (WAEC) was one of the first animal ethics committees to be established in New Zealand and was proactively set up prior to the late-1987 legal requirement to have a code of ethical conduct and animal ethics committee (AEC).
At that time, the research facility on the Wallaceville campus in Upper Hutt was part of the then Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries. The WAEC has been maintained through a number of restructurings at various levels. Most recently, the committee has been part of AgResearch Ltd and has continued to serve the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry on the campus as a parented organisation.
Research of national and international significance has been carried out at Wallaceville over the years, including work on infectious diseases, internal and external parasites, bovine tuberculosis and other diseases due to micro-organisms, and reproductive physiology in production animals. More recently, major research programmes directed at control of possum populations have been undertaken.
Many significant advances have been derived from the research conducted under the jurisdiction of the WAEC. These have included:
- development and commercialisation of vaccines for infectious diseases in sheep and deer
- a major contribution to the eradication of hydatids from New Zealand
- contributions to discovery and understanding of the effect of genes controlling fecundity in sheep and other ruminants
- a vaccine to increase lambing percentages in sheep and products to assist super-ovulation to enhance genetic progress in ruminants
- development of selective breeding lines of sheep for resistance and resilience to internal parasites.
A large body of knowledge from research conducted here has been provided to appropriate farming organisations and supporting and regulatory agencies – this has helped underpin the sustainability and competitiveness of New Zealand's pastoral industries. More recent research has laid the foundations for further progress in disease control and reproduction management in production animals and for solutions to the problems posed by possums in New Zealand.
AgResearch has decided to relocate major components of the research from the Wallaceville campus, thus rationalisation of animal ethics committees within the organisation is logical. The WAEC disbanded at the end of 2006 with responsibilities being transferred to the AgResearch Animal Ethics Committees at Grasslands, Palmerston North and Invermay, Mosgiel.
Many of the members of the Wallaceville Animal Ethics Committee were long serving, and strongly committed. The outstanding contribution from the external members in this regard is commendable. For all members, the greatest challenge was weighing the potential good from proposed research involving animals against the likely ethical cost. It takes time to approach a comfortable position on this, especially for external members.
In recognition of the contribution of Wallaceville AEC members, NAEAC has made service awards to eight AEC members who had served five years or more. This comprised five staff members, including the chairperson and secretary, and the three external members. The awards were presented by NAEAC member, Dr Roger Marchant, at the final AEC meeting.
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Page last updated: 30 April 2008