New approach methodologies (NAMs): identifying and overcoming hurdles to accelerated adoption

New approach methodologies (NAMs) can deliver improved chemical safety assessment through the provision of more protective and/or relevant models that have a reduced reliance on animals. Despite the widely acknowledged benefits offered by NAMs, there continue to be barriers that prevent or limit their application for decision-making in chemical safety assessment. These include barriers related to real and perceived scientific, technical, legislative and economic issues, as well as cultural and societal obstacles that may relate to inertia, familiarity, and comfort with established methods, and perceptions around regulatory expectations and acceptance. This article focuses on chemical safety science, exposure, hazard, and risk assessment, and explores the nature of these barriers and how they can be overcome to drive the wider exploitation and acceptance of NAMs. Short-, mid- and longer-term goals are outlined that embrace the opportunities provided by NAMs to deliver improved protection of human health and environmental security as part of a new paradigm that incorporates exposure science and a culture that promotes the use of protective toxicological risk assessments.