New Trends in Toxicology and their Impact on Toxicity Testing — Scientific and Practical Aspects

Toxicity tests for chemicals, pesticides or drugs are currently carried out mainly in accordance with legally prescribed test guidelines. Different national requirements might lead to repetitive testing. This should be avoided both on economic grounds and because of the ethical considerations with regard to animal welfare. It was therefore a major achievement when the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and the European Communities (EC), at the end of the 1970s, and following considerable effort, succeeded in achieving an international harmonisation in this area. Since then, the OECD and EC test guidelines have become the basis of modern toxicological investigations.