The call for a new toxicology is mainly a call for cellular approaches and their computational integration. This article reflects on cell models, which are necessary to facilitate the transition. A mechanistic perspective has prompted the characterization of toxicity pathways and toxicity networks in order to develop robust cell-based assays for toxicity testing. Differing use scenarios for cel...

This paper outlines the research, prevalidation and validation activities that ECVAM has undertaken in collaboration with its partners in the field of topical toxicity testing and human volunteer studies, from its creation until now (1994-2002).

Physiologically based pharmacokinetic (PBPK) models have a potentially significant role in the development of a reliable predictive toxicity testing strategy. The structure of PBPK models are ideal frameworks into which disparate in vitro and in vivo data can be integrated and utilized to translate information generated, using alternative to animal measures of toxicity and human biological moni...

Ingredients of cosmetic products are no longer allowed to be tested by animal experimentation (EU-Cosmetics Directive 76/768 EEC). For several toxicological endpoints this testing ban applies since March 11, 2009, while repeated dose toxicity tests and the test on skin sensitisation will follow on March 11, 2013. All currently available alternatives meeting the requirements of the first deadlin...

The test sensitivities and reproducibilities based on different response endpoints (cell density and total cell volume) were compared using both bath and continuous algal toxicity tests. Parameters related to algal cell density are found to be more sensitive and reproducible than total cell volume which bears a direct correlation to algal biomass or dry weight. The magnitude of differences in t...

Industrial wastes may produce leachates that can contaminate the aquatic ecosystem. Toxicity testing in acute and chronic levels is essential to assess environmental risks from the soluble fractions of these wastes, since only chemical analysis may not be adequate to classify the hazard of an industrial waste. In this study, ten samples of solid wastes from textile, metal-mechanic, and pulp and...

The current terrestrial risk assessment of insecticides regarding nontarget arthropods considers exclusively beneficial organisms, whereas herbivorous insects, such as grasshoppers, are ignored. However, grasshoppers living in field margins or meadows adjacent to crops may potentially be exposed to insecticides due to contact with or ingestion of contaminated food. Therefore, the present study ...

The risk to adjacent aquatic systems posed by leachates from scrap tires used in engineering applications has not been characterized adequately. Toxicity testing, toxicity identification evaluation (TIE), and groundwater modeling were used to determine the circumstances under which tire shreds could be used as roadbed fill with negligible risk to aquatic organisms in adjacent water bodies. Elev...

This study presents results of the effects of bisphenol A (BPA) on adult egg production, egg hatchability, egg development rates and juvenile growth rates in the freshwater gastropod, Marisa cornuarietis. We observed no adult mortality, substantial inter-snail variability in reproductive output, and no effects of BPA on reproduction during 12 weeks of exposure to 0, 0.1, 1.0, 16, 160 or 640 mic...

A mechanism can be defined as an explanation of an observed phenomenon that explains the processes underlying the phenomenon in terms of events at lower levels of organization. A prerequisite for new, more mechanistic, approaches, which would use in vitro systems rather than conventional animal analogy models, is a strengthening of the underlying scientific basis of toxicity testing. This will ...