Testing Chemical Safety: What Is Needed to Ensure the Widespread Application of Non-animal Approaches?

• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pbio.1002156
• Publication Date: 2015-05-27T14:08:34Z
• Authors: Natalie Burden; Fiona Sewell; Kathryn Chapman
• Keywords: Animal Use Alternatives; 0301 basic medicine; 03 medical and health sciences; QH301-705.5; Essay; Chemical Safety; Biology (General); 3. Good health

Scientists face growing pressure to move away from using traditional animal toxicity tests to determine whether manufactured chemicals are safe. Numerous ethical, scientific, business, and legislative incentives will help to drive this shift. However, a number of hurdles must be overcome in the coming years before non-animal methods are adopted into widespread practice, particularly from regulatory, scientific, and global perspectives. Several initiatives are nevertheless underway that promise to increase the confidence in newer alternative methods, which will support the move towards a future in which less data from animal tests is required in the assessment of chemical safety.