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Scientific Workshop on Acute Chemical Safety Testing

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Advancing In Vitro Approaches and Humane Endpoints for Systemic Toxicity Evaluations

February 6-7, 2008
Natcher Conference Center - National Institutes of Health
Bethesda, MD


The goals of this workshop were to:

  1. Review the state-of-the-science and identify knowledge gaps (at the whole organism, organ system, cellular, and/or molecular levels) regarding the key in vivo pathways involved in acute systemic toxicity

  2. Recommend how these knowledge gaps can be addressed by collecting mechanistic biomarker data during currently required in vivo safety testing

  3. Recommend how in vivo key pathway information can be used to develop more predictive mechanism-based in vitro test systems and to identify biomarkers that may serve as earlier, more humane endpoints for in vivo test methods

  4. Recommend how mechanism-based in vitro test systems and earlier, more humane endpoints can be used to further reduce, refine, and eventually replace animal use for acute systemic toxicity testing while ensuring the protection of human and animal health
Acute Toxicity Workshop Poster

View Workshop Agenda [PDF]

Over one hundred people from six countries attended this workshop. Attendees represented various ICCVAM stakeholder groups, including Federal agencies, academia, industry, international organizations, and the animal welfare community.

Workshop attendees participated in five breakout group discussions to address goals, objectives, and questions put forth by the workshop sponsors relating to key issues in the reduction, refinement and replacement of animal use in acute chemical safety testing. Each breakout group prepared a draft report that included recommendations for future activities to address research and development needs in the key theme areas relating to its topic of discussion. The resulting draft reports will be collated by NICEATM into a workshop report that will be made available to the public through a peer-reviewed journal and the NICEATM-ICCVAM website.

This workshop was organized by NICEATM and sponsored by ICCVAM, NICEATM, the European Centre for the Validation of Alternative Methods (ECVAM) and the Japanese Center for the Validation of Alternative Methods (JaCVAM).

Please visit the Acute Oral Toxicity Methods Section of the website for more information about the Workshop, including the agenda, speaker presentations, and biographical information on the speakers and panelists.


View Federal Register Notice announcing the Workshop [PDF]
(Vol. 73, No. 2, pp. 493-495, January 3, 2008)

View Questions for the Workshop Breakout Groups [PDF]

View list of references relevant to Workshop topics [PDF]


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