Three Rs Approaches in Marine Biotoxin Testing The Report and Recommendations of a joint ECVAM/DG SANCO Workshop (ECVAM Workshop 55)

Philipp Hess, Barbara Grune, David B. Anderson, Tore Aune, Luis M. Botana, Paolo Caricato, Hans P. van Egmond, Marlies Halder, Sherwood Hall, James F. Lawrence, Colin Moffat, Roberto Poletti, John Richmond, Gian Paolo Rossini, Catherine Seamer and Jorge Serratosa Vilageliu

This is the report of the 55th of a series of workshops organised by the European Centre for the Validation of Alternative Methods (ECVAM). The workshop on Three Rs Approaches in Marine Biotoxin Testing was held at ECVAM on 24–26 January 2005, with participants from academia, national and international reference laboratories, competent authorities and the European Commission (EC). This ECVAM/DG SANCO Workshop was organised: a) to discuss the current state-ofthe-art with regard to test methods and strategies; b) to consider immediate opportunities to reduce and refine animal use; and c) to examine the possibilities of validation and acceptance of non-animal methods as monitoring tools and reference methods in marine biotoxin testing, reflecting the technical progress that had been made. The outcome of the discussions and the recommendations agreed by the workshop participants are summarised in this report, which is primarily focused on the situation in the European Union (EU) and its Member States (MSs).