Animal Testing

Many animal activists are disappointed with the pace at which animal testing is being reduced, refined, and especially, replaced (the "Three Rs" of the alternatives approach). Considerable progress has been made, however, in the science of alternatives and in the attitudes among toxicologists and corporate decision-makers, as well as in developing government-based mechanisms for the regulatory acceptance of alternative methods.1 While there are scientific, financial, and regulatory obstacles to replacing animal testing, a comprehensive review …

…for information on, for example, general oral toxicity, eye and skin irritancy, phototoxicity (toxicity triggered by exposure to ultraviolet light), and perhaps mutagenicity. 1 In principle, the best way around the problem of biological variation is to develop an understanding of basic toxicity mechanisms and then develop alternative tests that are specifically based on those mechanisms. In practice, developing an understanding of these mechanisms may be years away, even for most of the common toxicity endpoints.