January 2001 News

ICCVAM Becomes a Permanent Federal Panel

January 9, 2001

President Bill Clinton recently signed a bill that will help ensure the continued development and use of alternatives to animals testing in the safety assessment of consumer products and chemicals. The Interagency Coordinating Committee on the Validation of Alternative Methods (ICCVAM) is now a permanent standing committee, thanks to the ICCVAM Authorization Act.

ICCVAM, a consortium of 14 federal agencies and programs, is responsible for guiding new toxicological test methods through the development, validation and regulatory acceptance process. ICCVAM supports alternative methods that are both more predictive and more humane--i.e., methods that use fewer animals, replace animals with non-animal methods, or reduce pain and distress in the animals tested.

ICCVAM was established in 1997 as an ad hoc committee. The new bill grants ICCVAM statutory status, guaranteeing that its vital work will continue from one year to the next.

The legislation has received broad support from Democrats, Republicans, federal agencies, animal rights groups, and chemical and pharmaceutical groups. It passed the House of Representatives in October and the Senate on December 7. The President signed the bill into law on December 19, 2000.

The ICCVAM bill seeks to accomplish three main objectives: 1) to reduce duplicative, time-consuming and costly test method validation through many federal agencies by establishing a centralized clearinghouse for information on test methods; 2) to reduce the number of animals used in research and regulatory test laboratories when reliable alternative methods are available; and, 3) to expedite the approval and adoption of new test methods with higher accuracy than traditional animal testing methods.

This legislation will conserve scarce research funding and increase the use of consistent and more accurate research testing methods. It will also help ensure that the lives of millions of test animals are not taken needlessly," said Congressman Ken Calvert (R, CA), who introduced the bill in the House.

ICCVAM thus far has reviewed and recommended the acceptance of two alternative test methods. The first test, the Murine Local Lymph Node Assay (LLNA), determines the potential of chemicals to cause allergic dermatitis. This assay is less painful than the old method, requires fewer animals, and uses mice rather than guinea pigs. For more details, see the Altweb news story here.

The second approved alternative method involves a "synthetic skin," called Corrositex, which can be used to test for skin corrositivity. For an Altweb news story about this new test, go here.

Both the LLNA and Corrositex have been accepted for use by multiple federal agencies. Two other alternative methods currently are under review.

Complete text of the ICCVAM Authorization bill is available (in .pdf format) here.