AFLAS was established on November 29, 2003 by six associations or societies for Laboratory Animal Science on national or regional basis in Asia. It took for long time to come to goal.

The international exchange meeting on May 9, 2001
The Japanese Association for Laboratory Animal Science (JALAS, the president was Dr Shigeru Sugano) and the Japanese Congress of Laboratory Animal Science and Technology 2001 (the president was Dr Kazuyoshi Maejima) organized a symposium entitled "Laboratory Animal Science in Asian Countries -Present and Future" in the Congress held at Yokohama, Japan on May 9, 2001. The aim of this symposium was to exchange information and to develop good relationship between the associations of laboratory animal science in Asian countries or regions. The delegates from six associations and societies of China, Japan, Korea, Philippine, Taiwan and Thai participated to the symposium. After the symposium, they discussed about establishing the Asian Federation of Laboratory Animal Science.

All the delegates agreed to the proposal that the Federation of Asian Laboratory Animal Science Associations/Societies (FALASA) be organized in order to improve the quality of laboratory animal science in Asia. Each delegate will discuss the foundation of FALASA at each Association/Society back home.
-Scientists and academic journals should be exchanged among the member Associations/Societies of FALASA. In addition, “Asian Journal of Laboratory Animal Science” should be published.
-The plan for establishing FALASA should be announced to other countries that were absent from JCLAST2001, e.g., India, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Malaysia, and so forth.

The international award by Asian fund
The international award by Asian fund of JALAS played an important role in unite the associations or societies of LAS in Asia.
Asian fund was founded as a memory of 50th anniversary of the founding of JALAS on May 11, 2001. And JALAS formally made a request of a candidate for awardee to Dr. Sang-Seop Han, the President of Korean Association for Laboratory Animal Science at the ceremony of 50th anniversary of the founding of JALAS on December 1, 2001.
The first award ceremony was held at the 49th annual meeting of JALAS in Nagoya on May 23, 2002, and five young researchers from five countries and regions were gave the international award.

Process to AFLAS
JALAS President Sugano and Dr. Kasai visited Seoul, Korea on October 5, 2002 and discussed establishment of AFLAS with President Sang-Seop Han and the board member of Korean Association for Laboratory Animal Science.
JALAS made a plan to have a meeting for founding the AFLAS on March 2003, and sent a draft of the regulation of the AFLAS such as a statute and a by-law (ver.1) on January 7, 2003.
However, both the meeting for AFLAS and the second award ceremony of the international award were postponed because of SARS prevalence in Asia.

Foundation of AFLAS, the first Council meeting for AFLAS
At last the first Council meeting for establishment of Asian federation was held in Tokyo, JAPAN on November 29, 2003. Six associations or societies which gathered to Tokyo approved establishing the federation and named it “the Asian Federation of Laboratory Animal Science Associations (AFLAS)” . The STATUTE and BY-LAWS of AFLAS were also established. As the first president, Dr. Shigeru Sugano, the president of JALAS, was elected. The members confirmed that the First Congress of AFLAS would be held in Nagasaki, Japan on May 22, 2004, and that the Second Congress of AFLAS in 2006 would be planed in Korea and prepared by KALAS as the next organizer.

The First Congress and the second Council meeting of AFLAS
The First Congress and the second Council meeting of AFLAS were held in Nagasaki, Japan, on May 21-22, 2004 under the first president Shigeru Sugano with the 51st annual meeting of JALAS, the president Hiroshi Sato.
Two symposia were held in the Congress as follows:
Symposium I “Quality Control of Laboratory Animals: Current Status in Asian Countries”.
Symposium II “Technicians of Experimental Animals in Asia”

The delegates of 5 countries or regions were represented in the second Council meeting. The amount of annual membership fee from the 2005 fiscal year was decided.
Dr. Yong-Soon Lee was elected as the second president for 2004 – 2006 Year’s. And the members confirmed that the next Council Meeting of AFLAS would be held in Soul, Korea on June 2005 and the Second Congress of AFLAS would be held in Korea in 2006.

The Second Congress and the Council meeting of AFLAS
The Second Congress and the Council meeting of AFLAS were held in Jeju, Korea, on August 30- September 1, 2006 under the president Yong-Soon Lee. It was organized by Korea association for Laboratory Animal Science, the president & Chair Yang-Seok Oh.
About 500 people were gathered from all over the world and ten symposia were held in the Congress. Two of them were organized by ICLAS and AAALAC international.

The delegates of 5 countries or regions were represented in the Council meeting. In addition, two representatives from Malaysia and Singapore were attended as observers. The amount of annual membership fee from the 2006 fiscal year was decided.
Dr. Qin Chuan was elected as the third president for 2006 – 2008 Year’s. And the members confirmed that the next Council Meeting of AFLAS will be held in Beijin, China on October 2007 and the third Congress of AFLAS will be held in Beijin in 2008. The meeting also decided that the fourth Congress of AFLAS will be held in Taipei in 2010.

The Third Congress and the Council meeting of AFLAS
Three new members have joined to AFLAS!
The third congress and the council meeting of AFLAS were held in Grand Epoch City, Beijing, China on September 27-29, 2008. Eight symposia and 63 posters were presented in the Congress.

The delegates of 6 associations or societies were represented in the Council meeting. In addition, three representatives from Malaysia, Singapore and India were attended as observers. In the meeting, we discussed about joining three associations to AFALS and voted. All the member associations or societies were agree to join them to AFLAS. Now AFLAS consists of nine associations or societies in Asia.

KALAS donated the relief fund of 1,500,000 Korean Won (approximately 9,500 RMB) for the destitute by the earthquake disaster in Su chuan province, and CALAS awarded Prof Yong-Soon Lee, Immediate past-President of AFLAS, for his great efforts for 2nd AFLAS Congress

For 5th AFLAS Congress in 2012, two associations announced their candidacy as host association in the meeting. A host association will be decided at the council meeting in 2009, which will be held in Taipei.