Chemical Companies, Animal Welfare Groups Fault Toxicity Test Validation Plan as Vague

The American Chemistry Council and animal welfare organizations say a draft interagency plan to validate alternative toxicological tests is vague, fails to provide leadership to modernize toxicity tests, and is disconnected from regulatory needs.

“There are few concrete goals in the plan and no timeframes for achieving progress,” People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals and the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine said in comments on the plan.

The chemistry council called the plan disappointing due to its lack of concrete activities to develop scientific confidence in the relevance and reliability of alternatives tests prior to their use in regulatory programs.

ACC, PETA, and the Physicians Committee were commenting on the draft 2013-2017 five-year plan developed by the National Toxicology Program's Interagency Center for the Evaluation of Alternative Toxicological Methods (NICEATM) and the Interagency Coordinating Committee on the Validation of Alternative Methods (ICCVAM). Comments were due Aug. 13 (36 CRR 661, 6/18/12).

The Scientific Advisory Committee on Alternative Toxicological Methods, which advises ICCVAM, will discuss the five-year plan when it meets in Research Triangle Park, N.C., September 5-6.