AltTox readers will be interested in the latest “The Way Forward” essay published on AltTox, “REACH and Alternatives to Animal Testing: Experience So Far,” by Nicholas Ball, M.S.; available at:
http://alttox.org/ttrc/eu/way-forward/ball/Mr. Ball joined the Dow Chemical Company in Horgen, Switzerland in 2006 as a Business Toxicology Consultant. He provides toxicological consulting services to a wide range of Dow businesses, has represented Dow in several industry associations and REACH Consortia, and is a member of the ECETOC task force on the use of read across in hazard characterisation of chemicals.
His article tackles the very challenging topic of REACH testing. REACH testing requirements and various approaches for minimizing animal use in the toxicity studies are explained. The REACH legislation “demands a significant set of toxicity studies, while on the other hand mandates that registrants do everything they can to avoid conducting new [animal] studies.” Not all attempts to avoid new animal testing by industry have been successful (i.e., accepted by regulators). He concludes that “we are still at the start of the journey with many new regulatory processes being followed for the first time. As more experience is gained within both the regulatory and industry community, it is hoped that a greater understanding of what should be required to support the use of alternative approaches under REACH will allow more robust dossiers to be compiled and fewer requests for new animal studies…”
Please take a look at the full article, as it contains many useful points that cannot be adequately summarized here.
