BUAV’s new Scientist, Carlotta Casalegno, recently attended a workshop organised by the European Commission and the International Council of Chemical Associations' Long-Range Research Initiative (ICCA-LRI) in Italy.

The BUAV is disappointed that animal experiments continue to be seen as ‘the gold standard’ in research. However, the workshop did look at new non-animal advances in toxicity testing and how best to communicate these to other scientists, decision makers and stakeholders, including the public. They included new powerful tools such as scanning microscopes, the use of 'omics' (e.g. toxicogenomics, metabonomics) and human embryonic stem cell cultures, which are expected to be the next frontiers in the humane safety evaluation of chemicals.

Encouragingly, new in vitro technologies, including one for skin sensitization that will replace tests on guinea pigs and mice, will soon be available.

14th July 2010