AxlR8 is a coordination and support action funded by the european Commission Directorate General for Research & Innovation under the Health theme of the 7th Framework Program (FP7) within the funding framework on Alternative Testing Strategies: Replacing, reducing and refining use of animals in research. AXLR8 is aimed specifically at accelerating a transition in europe toward a more sophistica...

The assessment of the adverse effects of chemicals and other stressors on the environment is a difficult task because of the complex network of species and physicochemical factors interrelated in a given ecosystem. Since it is almost impossible to perform tests in complete ecosystems, ecotoxicity testing has to rely on simplified testing systems, but should still be as representative for the wh...

The following comments are submitted on behalf of the more than 1.4 million members and supporters of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) and the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM) in response to the nominations of substances to NTP for study in 2007 (March 29, 2007; Federal Register 72(60):14816-14818). PETA and PCRM are committed to using the best available sc...

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...

Laws that mandate replacement alternatives, reduction alternatives, and refinement alternatives (the Three Rs) in scientific research have been passed in the United Kingdom, Germany, the Netherlands, the United States, and the European Union over the past decade. Full implementation of this newly developed legislation depends upon scientists' ability to understand animal welfare issues and to a...

Tissue engineering, defined as using a combination of cultured cells and biodegradable scaffolds to repair tissue damaged by injury or disease, represents a booming sector of biomedical research. Animal experimentation is routinely performed prior to clinical trials. The presented study tries to translate the aspect of the 3Rs to tissue engineering research: Cell culture protocols were adapted ...