Comment: The OECD Health Effects Test Guidelines: A Challenge to the Sincerity of Commitment to the Three Rs

Michael Balls and Robert D. Combes

When, in 2002, a report on Alternative (Non-animal) Methods for Chemicals Testing: Current Status and Future Prospects was published by the European Centre for Alternative Methods (ECVAM) and the ECVAM Working Group on Chemicals,1 in response to the European Commission (EC) White Paper on a Strategy for a Future Chemicals Policy,2 it was suggested that a similar review should be conducted on the current status and future prospects of the OECD and European Union (EU) test guidelines (TGs) for the animal toxicity tests likely to be needed in implementing the new policy.