So after I read up on how ICCVAM, the U.S. agency that is supposed to validate alternative-to-animal-testing methods, has only validated one alternative testing method in the 10 years of its existence, but that ICCVAM’s European counterpart, ECVAM, has validated twenty, I thought I’d see what tests ECVAM has validated.ECVAM does a lot of stuff to promote the evolution of use of new alternative-to-animal-testing methods — it has to develop tests, have them formally validated through interlaboratory studies, have them independently assessed, and then have them eventually accepted by regulating agencies. Right now it has 21 different tests that have been validated, and 10 different tests that have regulatory acceptance.

Scientifically Validated Methods:

• Artificial skin models (EpiSkin, EpiDerm) for skin irritation testing. ESAC statement. (I wrote about SkinEthic labs, which produces EpiSkin and EpiDerm, here.)
• Reduced Local Lymph Node Assay (rLLNA) for skin sensitization. ESAC statement.
• Statement on the conclusion of the ICCVAM retrospective study on Organotypic in vitro assays as screening tests to identify potential ocular corrosives and severe eye irritants. ESAC statement.
• Micronucleus Test as an alternative to the in vitro chromosome aberration assay for genotoxicity testing. ESAC Statement.
• SkinEthic Human Skin Model for Skin Corrosivity Testing. ESAC Statement.
• Five in vitro pyrogen tests. ESAC Statement.
• Testing strategy to reduce the use of fish in acute aquatic toxicity testing. ESAC Statement. (Fewer fish being purposefully exposed to toxins!)
• The colony forming unit-granulocyte/macrophage (CFU-GM) assay for predicting acute neutropenia in humans. INVITTOX Protocol, ESAC Statement.
• ELISA test for batch potency testing of erysipelas vaccines. ESAC Statement.
• Embryonic stem cell test for embryotoxicity. INVITTOX Protocol, ESAC Statement.
• Micromass embryotoxicity assay. INVITTOX Protocol, ESAC Statement.
• Whole rat embryo embryotoxicity assay. INVITTOX Protocol, ESAC Statement. (Fewer rat embryos being purposefully exposed to toxins!)
• Corrositex assay for skin corrosivity. INVITTOX Protocol, ESAC Statement. (In Vitro International, the Institute for In Vitro Sciences have kits for these.)
  
• ELISA test for batch potency testing of tetanus vaccines for human use. ESAC Statement.
• Toxin binding inhibition (ToBI) test for batch potency testing of tetanus vaccines for human use. ESAC Statement.
• Local lymph node assay for skin sensitization (LLNA). ESAC Statement.
• 3T3 Neutral Red Uptake (NRU) phototoxicity test. INVITTOX Protocol, ESAC Statement.
• In vitro production of monoclonal antibodies. ESAC Statement.
• EpiSkin skin corrosivity test. INVITTOX Protocol, ESAC Statement.
• Rat transcutaneous electrical resistance (TER) skin corrosivity test. INVITTOX Protocol, ESAC Statement. (Fewer electrocuted rats!)
  
• EpiDerm skin corrosivity test. INVITTOX Protocol, ESAC Statement.

Regulatory Acceptance:

• EpiSkin skin corrosivity test. 67/548/EEC, OECD.
• 3T3 NRU phototoxicity test. 67/548/EEC, OECD.
• EpiDerm skin corrosivity test. 67/548/EEC, OECD.
• Rat TER skin corrosivity test. 67/548/EEC, OECD.
• In vitro tests for percutaneous absorption. OECD.
• Deletion of the acute oral toxicity test, Lethal Dose (LD50). 67/548/EEC, OECD.
• Local lymph node assay for skin sensitization (LLNA). OECD, U.S. EPA OPPTS.
• ELISA test for batch potency testing of eyrsipelas vaccines. EDQM/European Pharmacopoeia.
• Toxin binding inhibition (ToBI) test for batch potency testing of tetanus vaccines for human use. EDQM/European Pharmacopoeia

Isn’t this wonderful? Just think of the thousands of European laboratory rats/rabbits/etc that aren’t tortured and sacrificed for toxicological purposes because of all these validated methods. Those tests are awful — check out StopAnimalTests.com. I wish they had an estimate of how many lives they’ve saved. 100? 1,000? 1,000,000?

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Categories : against animal testing, cruelty free