A new plan to further reduce, refine and replace the use of animals in research and regulatory testing, commonly referred to as the 3Rs, was unveiled today by the Interagency Coordinating Committee on the Validation of Alternative Methods (ICCVAM).

Traditionally, chemicals, consumer products, medical devices and new drugs are tested on animals to predict toxicity on humans, but scientists in ICCVAM are working to promote the development and validation of alternative test methods. Alternative test methods are those that accomplish one or more of the 3Rs; of reducing the number of animals used in testing, refining procedures so animals experience less pain and distress or replacing animals with non-animal systems.

ICCVAM has evaluated more than 185 test methods since its inception in 1997. ICCVAM itself does not conduct research but makes evaluates proposed solutions and makes recommendations about their usefulness to federal regulatory agencies.

William Stokes, D.V.M., director of NICEATM, the NTP office at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) that administers ICCVAM, said that many of these methods need further development and validation before they are ready for regulatory consideration.

However, several are now in widespread use around the world for routine safety testing, resulting in notable reduction and refinement of animal use.

“We appreciate all of the public input we’ve received to develop this plan and look forward to working closely with our government and non-government stakeholders to promote good science and validation studies that will support the regulatory use of alternative methods,” said Stokes. “By incorporating recent advances in science and technology, new alternative test methods can be developed that will benefit animal welfare by reducing, refining, and replacing animal use, and that will benefit public health by ensuring continued or improved protection of human and animal health and the environment.”

Stokes said ICCVAM will emphasize the use of new technologies to develop predictive systems that would be less reliant or not at all reliant on animals. Technologies touted by the National Research Council and the NTP, including high throughput screening techniques that can screen large numbers of potentially hazardous chemicals at one time and toxicogenomics, for example, will be studied and incorporated where they can to provide more accurate and timely public health decisions.

Stokes said a high priority for ICCVAM will be to focus on evaluating alternatives to test methods that use a large number of animals or that can involve significant pain and stress, including safety tests for ocular (eye) injuries, dermal (skin) damage, acute poisoning and tests for biologics such as vaccines. Additional priorities include safety tests to determine if products and chemicals may cause other adverse health effects such as cancer, birth defects, infertility and allergic responses.

The five-year plan was developed over a 12-month period with multiple opportunities for input, including a public Town Meeting held in June 2006. The NICEATM–ICCVAM Five-Year Plan is available electronically at http://iccvam.niehs.nih.gov/docs/5yearplan.htm.