EPAA Reports on a Year of Progress Towards Animal Testing Reduction

Posted: January 3, 2007

The European Partnership on Alternative Approaches to Animal Testing (EPAA) recently presented a report at the second “Europe Goes Alternative” conference, held Dec. 18, 2006, in Brussels. The report covered progress made towards the group's initial 2005 3Rs Declaration (Replacement, Reduction and Refinement of animal testing), which articulated the EPAA’s vision and established its terms of reference. The objective stated by this declaration was "to accelerate the development, validation and acceptance of alternative approaches for the purposes of regulatory safety assessment."

The progress reported included updates on:

• mapping of past and current 3R activities to better inform the planning and prioritization of subsequent actions;
• prioritization, promotion and implementation of future research based on the application of the 3Rs;
• identification, dissemination and implementation of best practice in the use of the 3Rs;
• implementation of the 3Rs in regulation and decisionmaking; and 
• validation and acceptance based on the 3Rs.

The complete progress report in detail may be downloaded at: http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/epaa/epaa_progress_report_2006.pdf.

Representatives from the European Commission and industry acknowledged the significant achievements made but also stressed the importance of additional partners joining the collaboration.

“In the past 12 months, 19 companies have joined the European Commission and the eight founding industry members of the EPAA, and this increase in expertise and resource has allowed us to accelerate progress,” said EPAA steering group co-chairs Georgette Lalis (for the European Commission) and Charles Laroche (for European industry).