Toxicity Assessment Alternatives: Methods, Issues, Opportunities
contains a broad array of critical surveys, contributed by active and
respected investigators, describing their research and offering updates
on toxicity assessment alternatives, directions determined by current
and future grant programs, opportunities for mechanistically based test
methods to detect endocrine disruptor activity, the use of alternatives
in the Department of Defense hazard assessment initiatives, and the
issues and opportunities for validation and regulatory acceptance.
Several of these advances make use oftransgenic models that reduce the
time and cost of carcinogenicity testing. Others use tissue cultures for
the assessment of endocrine disrupting chemicals. Cultures of human
epidermal keratinocytes are applicable as models for sulfur mustard
lesions, and in vitro protein denaturation is used as a chemical test
for assessing the ocular and dermal irritation potential of cosmetic
prod- ucts. Molecular modeling is applied to explaining chemical
toxicity. Commercially developed assay systems have undergone extensive
evaluation by their manufacturers. Some of these await external valida-
tion, and others await acceptance by North American and European
regulatory agencies. Toxicity Assessment Alternatives: Methods, Issues,
Opportunities provides information from members of the scientific and
regulatory communities on what has been achieved and what has been
accepted in alternatives to animal testing.
