The Third FRAME Toxicity Committee: working toward greater implementation of alternatives in toxicity testing

FRAME (the Fund for the Replacement of Animals in Medical Experiments; http://www. frame.org.uk) is a scientific charity, which has, for over 30 years, been advocating and conducting its own research on the application of the Three Rs (reduction, refinement and replacement) to animal experimentation. FRAME develops and validates scientifically based replacement alternative methods to facilitate their acceptance by scientists and regulators. As part of these activities, FRAME established a FRAME Toxicity Committee in 1979, and a report of its work was published in 1982, and discussed in the proceedings of a subsequent meeting, published in 1983. A Second Toxicity Committee formed in 1988, reported its work in 1990, which was discussed in the proceedings of a subsequent conference, published in 1991. The work of these committees was extremely successful and influential in laying the foundation for later activities in alternatives research. A Third FRAME Toxicity Committee was formed in 1999, since much progress had been achieved in the previous decade, especially with regard to the successful validation of several non-animal replacement methods and the start of their regulatory acceptance. Moreover, some new test methods are on the point of being validated, and many new techniques and discoveries are impacting on toxicity testing. Also, interest in reduction and refinement in toxicology has increased. However, there is considerable scope and need for the further implementation of the Three Rs in toxicity testing, especially due to recent plans for the large-scale testing of high-production volume, hormonally-active and existing chemicals, and the increasing use of transgenic animal models. The new committee comprises 18 experts from industry, academia, animal welfare, legislative and regulatory bodies, with one observer from the UK Government Home Office. The main objective is to review progress made in the application of the Three Rs in the development and safety evaluation of medicines, biologicals, cosmetics, agrochemicals and other products, as well as industrial chemicals, and to make recommendations as a basis for further sensible progress according to sound scientific and ethical criteria. The main committee is to be augmented by several working parties that will focus on specific scientific issues: 1) targeted risk assessment versus hazard identification; 2) data sharing; 3) endocrine disruption; and 4) carcinogenicity testing. The Committee is also to publish a status report on the current situation regarding alternatives in toxicity testing, based on the recommendations of the Second Toxicity Committee, and will organise a conference to discuss its overall conclusions and recommendations.