Studying alternative tests for eye irritation The European Centre for the Validation of Alternative Methods (ECVAM), which forms part of the European Commission's Joint Research Centre, aims to promote the scientific and regulatory acceptance of alternative methods important to biosciences and which reduce, refine or repl... The European Centre for the Validation of Alternative Methods (ECVAM), which forms part of the European Commission's Joint Research Centre, aims to promote the scientific and regulatory acceptance of alternative methods important to biosciences and which reduce, refine or replace the use of laboratory animals. One of their current priorities is the validation of in vitro tests for predicting the eye irritation potential of chemicals. They have recently issued a call for tender relating to the need for a preliminary evaluation of the application of reference standards in the pre-validation and validation of in vitro tests for eye irritation. It is hoped that such an approach will lead to the demonstration of the scientific validity of various promising in vitro tests that are currently used in a non-regulatory context. For further information, please contact: European Commission Joint Research Centre Environment Institute Mrs. C. Dal Molin ECVAM TP 580 I-21020 Ispra Tel. +39-332-789236; Fax +39-332-785336
