National Toxicology Program

January 19, 2011: Assessing the Potential for Chemically Induced Eye Injuries
January 20, 2011: Assessing the Potential for Chemically Induced Allergic Contact Dermatitis

William H. Natcher Conference Center - National Institutes of Health
Bethesda, MD, USA

Co-sponsored by the Society of Toxicology and the Society for Risk Analysis

See below for materials from each workshop

Read article about the workshops in the February 2011 issue of the
NIEHS Environmental Factor newsletter

Thanks to the recent agency endorsement of several alternative testing methods, Federal public health agencies and regulated industries now have important new tools for assessing the safety of chemicals and products. The new test methods were discussed at two workshops on Best Practices for Regulatory Safety Testing organized by NICEATM and ICCVAM. Over seventy scientists from industry, academia, research and regulatory agencies, and animal welfare organizations gathered at NIH in Bethesda for each workshop.

Goals of the Workshops

The specific goals of these workshops were to:

1. Provide an overview of the available methods in each area, including the applications, strengths and weaknesses of each method


2. Provide information on the procedures for conducting and interpreting data in accordance with regulatory testing requirements and guidelines


3. Allow an opportunity to become familiar with data generated by each test method


4. Provide a forum for scientists to share information on the appropriate use of results in regulatory safety testing


5. Discuss challenges of incorporating alternative test methods into regulatory safety testing guidelines


6. Identify and discuss new methods in the development and validation pipeline for each safety testing area, and ways to increase the availability of high quality data necessary for validating new methods