DETAILS OF THE  INTERNATIONAL VALIDATION STATUS OF ALTERNATIVES

There is increasing pressure to use alternatives in toxicity testing, due to new regulations such as the EU REACH legislation on chemicals risk assessment and the 7th Amendment to the EU Cosmetics Directive.

Combes Consulting advises on the status of these methods at the different stages of their development, assessment and official acceptance in relation to the specific purposes for which they were designed.

Selected publications

Combes, R.D. (2003). A critical assessment of the OECD collaborative study to validate the uterotrophic assay for the detection of oestrogenic and anti-oestrogenic chemicals. ATLA 31, 489-499.

Combes, R.D. (2004). Peer review of validation studies: an assessment of the role of the OECD by reference to the uterotrophic assay for endocrine disruptors. ATLA 32, 111-117.

Balls, M. & Combes, R. (2005). The need for a formal invalidation  process for animal and non-animal tests. ATLA 33, 299-308.

Combes, R., Corvi, R., Curren, R., Eskes, C., Fentem, J., Gribaldo, L., Halder, M., Hartung, T., Hoffman, S., Schechtman, L., Scott, L., Spielmann, H., Stokes, W., Tice, R., Wagner, D. & Zuang, V. (2006). The Principles of weight of evidence validation of test methods and testing strategies: The Report and Recommendations of ECVAM Workshop 58. ATLA 34, 603-620.

Combes, R. (2007). Developing, validating and using test batteries and tiered (hierarchical) testing schemes. ATLA 35, 375-378.