Chemical Companies, Regulators Seek Animal Test Alternatives
Alternatives to Animal Testing, Experimentation and Dissection - An Animal Rights Article from All-Creatures.org

FROM

Physicians Committee (PCRM)
November 2015

The agenda included a discussion of in vitro alternatives to LD50 tests—lethal dose tests that measure how much of a chemical it takes to kill 50 percent of the animals who are exposed to it. These tests—which expose the animals to chemicals through the skin, by mouth, or by inhalation—are a crude indicator of risk, and species differences often make results irrelevant to humans.

Scientists from the Dow Chemical Company and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency were among the 60 experts who recently participated in a workshop co-organized by the Physicians Committee to discuss transitioning from chemical tests on animals to methods that better protect human health.

Physicians Committee director of regulatory testing issues Kristie Sullivan, M.P.H., hosted the “Alternative Approaches for Identifying Acute Systemic Toxicity” conference in September at the National Institutes of Health, where experts representing industry and government met to outline nonanimal testing strategies to recommend to regulatory agencies.

The agenda included a discussion of in vitro alternatives to LD50 tests—lethal dose tests that measure how much of a chemical it takes to kill 50 percent of the animals who are exposed to it. These tests—which expose the animals to chemicals through the skin, by mouth, or by inhalation—are a crude indicator of risk, and species differences often make results irrelevant to humans.

The Physicians Committee has already persuaded the U.K. to lead an ongoing project at the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, which sets chemical testing guidelines worldwide, to remove the LD50 skin test. In the United States, this test is likely to be severely restricted by the EPA or even ended in the next few years. Sullivan has conducted a six-part webinar series to help regulators transition away from LD50 tests.

She is also working with CropLife America—which represents the pesticides industry—to replace the Draize test for pesticides. In this test, pesticides are dripped into the eyes or rubbed onto the skin of rabbits to test for tissue damage, redness, irritation, and burning. Because of anatomical differences between rabbits and humans, the test can fail to predict adverse reactions. Nonanimal replacements for the Draize test are already available and being used by some companies.

The Physicians Committee’s work to reduce pesticides testing on animals has helped to protect human health and spared nearly 200,000 animals from tests.


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