Report of the European Commission workshop on "The roadmap towards phasing out animal testing for chemical safety assessments", Brussels, 11-12 December 2023

Abstract

This report summarises the main findings and discussion from the European Commission (EC) workshop on "The Roadmap Towards Phasing Out Animal Testing for Chemical Safety Assessments" which was held in Brussels on 11-12 December 2023. The aim of the workshop was to gather ideas and opinions from individuals, organisations and institutions, and to discuss potential approaches for incorporating non-animal methods into chemical legislation with all interested stakeholders. The roadmap will be an EC policy document which will outline milestones and specific actions, addressing all relevant pieces of chemical legislation relating to safety assessment. It intends to describe the necessary steps to replace animal testing in pieces of legislation where it is currently required for chemical safety assessments. The roadmap will outline the path to expand and accelerate the development, validation and implementation of non-animal methods as well as means to facilitate their uptake across legislation. The workshop included presentations from a wide variety of stakeholders. The contributors provided examples of how non-animal methods could be applied to replace, reduce or refine animal testing in the assessment of human health and environmental effects. Furthermore, possible guiding principles for establishing a Next-Generation Risk Assessment (NGRA) in European chemicals legislation were also discussed. The workshop provided the basis for further discussion and for structuring the roadmap work.

Keywords: Alternatives to animal testing; Chemicals; European Citizens' Initiative; European Commission; Next Generation Risk Assessment; Pharmaceuticals; Regulatory policy; Roadmap; Save cruelty-free cosmetics; Three Rs.