§ 500. Wadsworth center for laboratories and research; establishment
§ 501. State laboratories; approved laboratories; powers and duties of commissioner
§ 502. Environmental laboratories; examinations; certificates of approval
§ 503. Laboratories; state hospitals; service to counties and municipalities
§ 504. Laboratories; scientific tests on living animals; rules; approval
§ 505. Animal irritancy tests prohibited
§ 505-a. Purchase of certain animals for scientific tests
§ 506. Unlawful interference with research laboratory operations
§ 500. Wadsworth center for laboratories and research; establishment
1. The commissioner shall establish and maintain one or more laboratories with such expert assistants and such facilities as are necessary for routine examinations and analyses, and for original investigations and research in matters affecting public health. The laboratories shall be known as the Wadsworth center for laboratories and research.
2. The commissioner shall create within the Wadsworth center for laboratories and research a master of science degree program in the field of laboratory science, subject to approval of the board of regents and registration with the department of education.
CREDIT(S)
(L.1953, c. 879. Amended L.1984, c. 597, § 1.; L.2008, c. 204, § 1, eff. Aug. 6, 2008.)
§ 501. State laboratories; approved laboratories; powers and duties of commissioner
1. [FN1] The commissioner shall have authority:
(a) to make, at the expense of the state, examinations and analyses, at the request of any health officer or of any physician in accordance with the provisions of this article;
(b) to enter into contracts with laboratories in localities accessible to the various portions of the state for the prompt examination of specimens received from local health officers or physicians and for the immediate report thereon, at the expense of the state; provided that all such laboratories shall conform to the standards of efficiency established by the public health council, and that no obligation shall be incurred by the commissioner in excess of the sums available therefor.
CREDIT(S)
(L.1953, c. 879.)
[FN1] So in original. No subd. 2 has been enacted.
§ 502. Environmental laboratories; examinations; certificates of approval
1. For the purposes of this section, “environmental laboratory” is any facility that examines or is available for the examination of samples or specimens including, but not limited to: air, stack emissions, water, wastewater, surface water, ground water, recreational waters, swimming pools, leachate, land runoff, solid waste, hazardous waste, soil, sediments and vegetation, as well as any substance that could contribute to the pollution of or that could be contaminated by material contained in such samples or specimens. Such examinations shall be limited to the qualitative or quantitative determinations of the biological, chemical, radiochemical or physical characteristics of such samples or specimens for the purposes of public or personal health protection or the protection of the environment or natural resources. Environmental laboratories shall not include non-laboratory chemical testing associated with residential water softeners and residential swimming pools.
2. No environmental laboratory may perform any examination on samples collected in the state of New York for which the commissioner issues a certificate of approval for such examination unless the laboratory has been issued such certificate of approval. Such laboratory examinations shall conform to any conditions under which the approval is granted.
3. The commissioner may issue to laboratories certificates of approval covering laboratory examinations, including but not limited to, specific procedures or specialities within such categories as wastewaters, potable waters, sediments, solid wastes, and air, and may prescribe the conditions under which such approvals will be granted. Notwithstanding any other conditions which he may prescribe, such an approval shall not be issued hereafter to a laboratory, not heretofore approved, unless the director or other person in charge of such examinations shall possess such educational and technical qualifications as the commissioner shall prescribe.
4. No state agency, authority, county, city, including the city of New York, town, village, water district, sewer district or other political subdivision of the state shall contract with any laboratory for laboratory examinations for which the commissioner issues certificates of approval pursuant to subdivision three of this section, unless such laboratory has been issued such certificate.
5. Subject to the approval of the director of the budget, the commissioner shall charge adequate and reasonable fees for the periodic inspection of out-of-state laboratories.
6. Subject to the approval of the director of the budget, the commissioner shall charge laboratories fees to recover the cost to the department of operating this program. The commissioner may waive all or any part of such fee charges for laboratories operated by the state. Fees shall include the following:
(a) a basic amount of five hundred dollars to be charged to each laboratory;
(b) the balance of the program cost from:
(1) an additional amount to be charged to each laboratory proportional to total adjusted volume of analytes performed by the laboratory in the preceding year as defined in regulations of the department, the total amount collected from which shall equal fifty percent of the balance of the program costs;
(2) an additional amount to be charged to each laboratory proportional to the number of analytes for which such laboratory maintains its certification.
Subparagraph one of paragraph (b) of this subdivision shall not apply to government laboratories.
7. For those categories, procedures or specialities as specified in subdivision three for which the commissioner has issued certificates of approval, the commissioner shall within thirty days of receipt of an application for a certificate from a laboratory existing on or before April first, nineteen hundred ninety-three, which is initially required to obtain certification, review such application and issue an interim certificate of approval in the particular category, procedure or speciality to all laboratories which provide adequate documentation in their application that they are capable of performing quality work in the category, procedure or speciality under review. An interim certificate of approval in specified categories will remain valid until such time as the commissioner shall reach a determination on the application.
8. The commissioner may adopt and amend rules and regulations to effectuate the provisions and purposes of this title.
9. A person who intentionally violates or refuses or omits to comply with subdivision two of this section, or any regulation adopted pursuant thereto, is guilty of a misdemeanor, punishable upon conviction, by imprisonment for not more than one year or by a fine of not more than one thousand dollars or by both such fine and imprisonment. A second or subsequent conviction shall be punishable by imprisonment for not more than one year or a fine of not more than two thousand five hundred dollars or by both such fine and imprisonment.
10. The department may require an environmental laboratory to report laboratory test results to the department, or to any other health department in an electronic manner prescribed by the department.
Credits
(L.1953, c. 879. Amended L.1981, c. 517, § 1; L.1983, c. 614, § 1; L.1984, c. 901, § 1; L.1989, c. 685, §§ 1, 2; L.1992, c. 699, § 1; L.2010, c. 58, pt. A, § 24, eff. July 2, 2010, deemed eff. April 1, 2010; L.2017, c. 57, pt. M, § 2, eff. April 20, 2017.)
§ 503. Laboratories; state hospitals; service to counties and municipalities
1. The director of any hospital in the department, with the approval of the commissioner, may enter into a contract with proper municipal or county officials under which the laboratory service of the hospital may be made available to municipalities or counties or parts thereof when in his judgment such a contract shall be in the interest of public health and not prejudicial to the interest or work of the institution.
2. The treasurer of the hospital, or the director thereof, if there is no treasurer, shall receive all moneys paid in consideration of such contract and pay the same into the general fund of the state.
CREDIT(S)
(L.1953, c. 879.)
§ 504. Laboratories; scientific tests on living animals; rules; approval
1. The commissioner is authorized to designate approved laboratories or institutions wherein properly conducted scientific tests, experiments or investigations, involving the use of living animals, may be performed or conducted.
2. (a) The commissioner shall promulgate rules under which such approvals shall be granted, and shall cause such rules to be published, and copies thereof shall be conspicuously posted in each such laboratory or institution.
(b) Such rules of the commissioner shall include requirements that all animals shall be kindly and humanely treated, properly fed and suitably housed, and that commensurate with experimental needs and with the physiologic function under study, all tests, experiments and investigations involving pain shall be performed under adequate anesthesia.
3. The commissioner or his duly authorized representative shall inspect such laboratories or institutions to insure compliance with the rules and standards promulgated by him.
4. (a) The approval of a laboratory or institution by the commissioner for the purposes herein set forth shall be limited to a period not exceeding one year but may be renewed from year to year upon proper application to the commissioner.
(b) Each such approval may be revoked at any time for failure to comply with the rules promulgated by the commissioner.
5. The performance of animal experimentation without approval by the commissioner as herein provided shall constitute a misdemeanor.
3. Nothing in this section shall prohibit the conduct of animal tests to comply with the requirements of state agencies. Nothing in this section shall prohibit the conduct of animal tests to comply with the requirements of federal agencies whenever the federal agency staff concludes that the alternative nonanimal test does not assure the health or safety of consumers.
4. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the exclusive remedy for enforcing this section shall be a civil action for injunctive relief brought by the attorney general. If the court determines that the attorney general is the prevailing party in the enforcement action, such prevailing party may also recover costs, attorneys fees and a civil penalty not to exceed one thousand dollars in that action.
5. This section shall not apply to any animal test conducted for the purpose of medical research.
6. For the purposes of this section, the following terms shall have the following meanings:
(a) “Animal” means a vertebrate nonhuman animal.
(b) “Contract testing facility” means any individual, partnership, corporation, association, or other legal relationship that tests chemicals, ingredients, product formulations, or products in this state.
(c) “ICCVAM” means the Inter-Agency Coordinating Committee for the Validation of Alternative Methods, a federal committee comprised of representatives from fourteen federal regulatory or research agencies, including the Food and Drug Administration, Environmental Protection Agency, and Consumer Products Safety Commission, that reviews the validity of alternative test methods. The committee is the federal mechanism for recommending appropriate, valid test methods to relevant federal agencies.
(d) “Manufacturer” means any individual, partnership, corporation, association, or other legal relationship that produces chemicals, ingredients, product formulations, or products in this state.
(e) “Medical research” means research related to the causes, diagnosis, treatment, control or prevention of physical or mental diseases and impairments of humans and animals, or related to the development of biomedical products, devices or drugs as defined in Section 321(g)(1) of Title 21 of the United States Code. Medical research does not include the testing of an ingredient that was formerly used in a drug, tested for the drug use with traditional animal methods to characterize the ingredient and to substantiate its safety for human use, and is now proposed for use in a product other than a biomedical product, medical device or drug.
(f) “Person” means any individual, partnership, corporation, association or other legal entity.
(g) “Traditional animal test method” means a process or procedure using animals to obtain information on the characteristics of a chemical or agent. Toxicological test methods generate information regarding the ability of a chemical or agent to product [FN1] a specific biological effect under specified conditions.
(h) “Validated alternative test method” means a test method that does not use animals, or in some cases reduces or refines the current use of animals for which the reliability and relevance for a specific purpose has been established in validation studies as specified in the ICCVAM report provided to the relevant federal agencies.
CREDIT(S)
[FN1] So in original (“product” should be “produce”).
CREDIT(S)
§ 506. Unlawful interference with research laboratory operations
An agency as defined in subdivision three of section eighty-six of the public officers law may deny access to records or portions thereof concerning biomedical research or biomedical teaching conducted at an institution of higher education authorized by the state education department or at an institution within the state that receives state or federal funding to conduct such biomedical research or such biomedical teaching that, if disclosed, could endanger the life or safety of any person or would be reasonably likely to endanger the security of such biomedical research laboratory.
Credits
(Added L.2014, c. 440, § 1, eff. Nov. 21, 2014.)