[Are acute toxicity testing and the three Rs rule reconcilable? Example of the lethal dose 50 determination]

Toxicity assessment and demonstration of innocuousness of chemical compounds have been part of the research studies conducted in the fields of pharmacy, agriculture and chemical industry for years. Acute systemic toxicity studies are an important element of the safety evaluation. They remain compulsory for regulatory purposes and important for the public opinion that does not accept the risk anymore. Evolutions of the ethics in animal experiments foster a necessary reduction of the number of animals involved in this type of experiments, following the well-known principle of the three Rs rule of Russell and Burch (1959) (Reduction, refinement and replacement). These two views seem in contradiction. Using the example of acute toxicity testing and focusing on the now very criticized parameter lethal dose 50, we will present approaches, including statistical ones, that a toxicologist can use, when free to choose, to keep on conducting the indispensable in vivo studies while abiding by ethical recommendations.