ASCCT Accelerates Push for Nonanimal Methods

Scientists from PCRM, the Colgate-Palmolive Company, and Johns Hopkins University were among 50 experts who recently met to evaluate toxicology testing methods to reduce and replace the use of animals. The first Annual Scientific Meeting of the American Society for Cellular and Computational Toxicology featured more than two dozen lectures and poster presentations on making toxicology a more human-relevant science.

Inspired by a National Academy of Sciences report calling for a new toxicity testing strategy, PCRM and the Institute for In Vitro Sciences formed ASCCT in 2010 to promote nonanimal toxicological testing methods in the pharmaceutical, chemical, pesticide, and consumer product sectors. There are now more than 100 individual members and 12 institutional sponsors.

Suzanne Fitzpatrick, senior advisor for toxicology at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, gave a plenary lecture on the use of human tissue chips that model human organs such as the lung, liver, and heart and can be used to test drugs and chemicals for potential toxicity.

“ASCCT’s scientists represent diverse interests, but have one common goal,” says Kristie Sullivan, M.P.H., PCRM director of regulatory testing issues and ASCCT board secretary. “We all want to move toxicology testing toward methods that will save human and animal lives.”

This shift is spurred by concern for animals used in tests, logistical difficulties in assessing growing inventories of substances, and the need for a better understanding of the interaction between chemistry and human biology at the molecular level.

Read program abstracts and learn more about ASCCT at ASCCTox.org.