Chemicals are an essential part of everyday life and all too-often taken for granted, yet often portrayed negatively in the media. Concern over the deleterious effects of chemicals to the environment and human health have prompted governments in the developed world to establish screening programmes such as REACH and HPV Challenge to identify chemicals presenting the greatest degree of risk to health and the environment. While such programmes identify chemicals with the greatest risk, there is no ranking system for alternative chemicals, which while being potentially less harmful, still carry a degree of risk. This volume of the Issues in Environmental Science and Technology series investigates how the alternatives can be assessed and their risk determined. With contributions from experts across the globe, this volume addresses some of the key concepts behind risk assessment of alternative chemicals. Some of the current protocols adopted are discussed, and several chapters explore the topic in the context of industry, making this book essential reading for industrialists as well as academics, postgraduate students and policy makers.
Animal experimentation has long been a controversial issue with impassioned arguments on both sides of the debate. Increasingly it has become more expedient and feasible to develop new methods that avoid the use of animals. There is agreement on both sides that reduction and refinement of experiments on animals should be an important goal for the industries involved. Alternatives to Animal Testing, written by leading experts in the field, discusses the issues involved and approaches that can be taken. Topics include; the safety evaluation of chemicals, international validation and barriers to the validation of alternative tests, in vitro testing for endocrine disruptors, intelligent approaches to safety evaluation of chemicals, alternative tests and the regulatory framework. The book provides an up-to-date discussion of the current state of development of alternatives to animal testing and is ideal for professionals and academics in the field. It would also be of use for graduate students wishing to pursue a career in the pharmaceutical and cosmetic industries.
Green toxicology is an integral part of green chemistry. One of the key goals of green chemistry is to design less toxic chemicals. Therefore, an understanding of toxicology and hazard assessment is important for any chemist working in green chemistry, but toxicology is rarely part of most chemists' education. As a consequence, chemists lack the toxicological lens necessary to view chemicals in order to design safer substitutions. This book seeks to fill that gap and demonstrate how a basic understanding of toxicology, as well as the tools of in silico and in vitro toxicology, can be an integral part of green chemistry. R&D chemists, product stewards, and toxicologists who work in the field of sustainability, can all benefit from integrating green toxicology principles into their work. Topics include in silico tools for hazard assessment, toxicity testing, and lifecycle considerations, this book aims to act as a bridge between green toxicologists and green chemists.
Advances in molecular biology and toxicology are paving the way for major improvements in the evaluation of the hazards posed by the large number of chemicals found at low levels in the environment. The National Research Council was asked by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to review the state of the science and create a far-reaching vision for the future of toxicity testing. The book finds that developing, improving, and validating new laboratory tools based on recent scientific advances could significantly improve our ability to understand the hazards and risks posed by chemicals. This new knowledge would lead to much more informed environmental regulations and dramatically reduce the need for animal testing because the new tests would be based on human cells and cell components. Substantial scientific efforts and resources will be required to leverage these new technologies to realize the vision, but the result will be a more efficient, informative and less costly system for assessing the hazards posed by industrial chemicals and pesticides.
Prudent Practices in the Laboratory-the book that has served for decades as the standard for chemical laboratory safety practice-now features updates and new topics. This revised edition has an expanded chapter on chemical management and delves into new areas, such as nanotechnology, laboratory security, and emergency planning. Developed by experts from academia and industry, with specialties in such areas as chemical sciences, pollution prevention, and laboratory safety, Prudent Practices in the Laboratory provides guidance on planning procedures for the handling, storage, and disposal of chemicals. The book offers prudent practices designed to promote safety and includes practical information on assessing hazards, managing chemicals, disposing of wastes, and more. Prudent Practices in the Laboratory will continue to serve as the leading source of chemical safety guidelines for people working with laboratory chemicals: research chemists, technicians, safety officers, educators, and students.
Part one includes information on some of the key alternative conceptions that have been uncovered by research and general ideas for helping students with the development of scientific conceptions.
In the last decade and a half, great progress has been made in the development of concepts and models for mixture toxicity, both in human and environmental toxicology. However, due to their different protection goals, developments have often progressed in parallel but with little integration. Arguably the first book to clearly link ecotoxicology an
This work recommends a simple yet profound shift to another decision-making technique: alternatives assessment. Instead of asking how much of a hazardous activity is safe, alternatives assessment asks how we can avoid or minimize damage.
This book provides information on best practices and new thinking regarding the validation of alternative methods for toxicity testing. It covers the validation of experimental and computational methods and integrated approaches to testing and assessment. Validation strategies are discussed for methods employing the latest technologies such as tissue-on-a-chip systems, stem cells and transcriptomics, and for methods derived from pathway-based concepts in toxicology. Validation of Alternative Methods for Toxicity Testing is divided into two sections, in the first, practical insights are given on the state-of-the-art and on approaches that have resulted in successfully validated and accepted alternative methods. The second section focuses on the evolution of validation principles and practice that are necessary to ensure fit-for-purpose validation that has the greatest impact on international regulatory acceptance of alternative methods. In this context validation needs to keep pace with the considerable scientific advancements being made in toxicology, the availability of sophisticated tools and techniques that can be applied in a variety of ways, and the increasing societal and regulatory demands for better safety assessment. This book will be a useful resource for scientists in the field of toxicology, both from industry and academia, developing new test methods, strategies or techniques, as well as Governmental and regulatory authorities interested in understanding the principles and practicalities of validation of alternative methods for toxicity testing.
The History of Alternative Test Methods in Toxicology uses a chronological approach to demonstrate how the use of alternative methods has evolved from their conception as adjuncts to traditional animal toxicity tests to replacements for them. This volume in the History of Toxicology and Environmental Health series explores the history of alternative test development, validation, and use, with an emphasis on humanity and good science, in line with the Three Rs (Replacement,Reduction, Refinement) concept expounded by William Russell and Rex Burch in 1959 in their now classic volume, The Principles of Humane Experimental Technique. The book describes the historical development of technologies that have influenced the application of alternatives in toxicology and safety testing. These range from single cell monocultures to sophisticated, miniaturised and microfluidic organism-on-a-chip devices, and also include molecular modelling, chemoinformatics and QSAR analysis, and the use of stem cells, tissue engineering and hollow fibre bioreactors. This has been facilitated by the wider availability of human tissues, advances in tissue culture, analytical and diagnostic methods, increases in computational processing, capabilities, and a greater understanding of cell biology and molecular mechanisms of toxicity. These technological developments have enhanced the range and information content of the toxicity endpoints detected, and therefore the relevance of test systems and data interpretation, while new techniques for non-invasive diagnostic imaging and high resolution detection methods have permitted an increased role for human studies. Several key examples of how these technologies are being harnessed to meet 21st century safety assessment challenges are provided, including their deployment in integrated testing schemes in conjunction with kinetic modelling, and in specialized areas, such as inhalation toxicity studies. The History of Alternative Test Methods in Toxicology uses a chronological approach to demonstrate how the use of alternative methods has evolved from their conception as adjuncts to traditional animal toxicity tests to replacements for them. This volume in the History of Toxicology and Environmental Health series explores the history of alternative test development, validation, and use, with an emphasis on humanity and good science, in line with the Three Rs (Replacement, Reduction, Refinement) concept expounded by William Russell and Rex Burch in 1959 in their now-classic volume, The Principles of Humane Experimental Technique. The book describes the historical development of technologies that have influenced the application of alternatives in toxicology and safety testing. These range from single cell monocultures to sophisticated miniaturised and microfluidic organism-on-a-chip devices, and also include molecular modelling, chemoinformatics and QSAR analysis, and the use of stem cells, tissue engineering and hollow fibre bioreactors. This has been facilitated by the wider availability of human tissues, advances in tissue culture, analytical and diagnostic methods, increases in computational processing capabilities, and a greater understanding of cell biology and molecular mechanisms of toxicity. These technological developments have enhanced the range and information content of the toxicity endpoints detected, and therefore the relevance of test systems and data interpretation, while new techniques for non-invasive diagnostic imaging and high resolution detection methods have permitted an increased role for human studies. Several key examples of how these technologies are being harnessed to meet 21st century safety assessment challenges are provided, including their deployment in integrated testing schemes in conjunction with kinetic modelling, and in specialised areas, such as inhalation toxicity studies.
