WASHINGTON - Three sets of non-animal testing guidelines recently passed their last major hurdle leading up to adoption by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), an economic alliance of 30 industrialized nations, including the United States, Japan, and member states of the European Union.

At their May 29-31 meeting, OECD National Coordinators approved cell or tissue-based guidelines for assessing whether chemicals cause skin corrosion or phototoxicity, or can penetrate the skin (and thereby be absorbed by the bloodstream). These guidelines are expected to be formally adopted by the OECD after a series of meetings later this year.

A newly formed alliance, the International Council for Animal Protection in OECD Programmes (ICAPO), welcomed the National Coordinators’ consensus approval of the non-animal guidelines. ICAPO is officially recognized by the OECD as an ‘expert group’ and thereby participates in key OECD meetings; the May OECD meeting was the first National Coordinators meeting for ICAPO.

ICAPO comprises animal protection organizations in North America, Europe, and Asia. It’s current member organizations include the Animal Alliance of Canada, British Union for the Abolition of Vivisection, Doris Day Animal League, Eurogroup for Animal Welfare, European Coalition to End Animal Experiments, Humane Society of the United States, Japanese Anti-Vivisection Association, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, and Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine.

The National Coordinators—the official representatives of the OECD member countries—reached consensus on two in vitro (non-animal) guidelines for skin corrosion, one for skin absorption, and one for phototoxicity. The guideline for skin absorption (OECD Test Guideline [TG] 428) was approved alongside an animal-based test for the same endpoint; ICAPO will urge OECD member states to use only the non-animal method when both methods are subsequently adopted by the OECD. The in vitro guideline for phototoxicity (TG 432) will become the OECD’s only guideline for this endpoint. The in vitro guidelines for skin corrosion (TGs 430/431) are expected to be used without recourse to animal testing. These new TGs will now move on to the OECD’s Joint Meeting, Environment Committee, and finally to the Council, for final adoption.

ICAPO had urged member countries to approve the non-animal guidelines at the National Coordinators meeting and to consider them as replacements—not supplements—to animal-based (‘in vivo’) testing. “We were pleased to see these guidelines pass what many observers regard as their final technical hurdle before adoption by the OECD,” said Dr. Martin Stephens, ICAPO secretary and vice president for animal research issues at The Humane Society of the United States. “Once adopted, they will become the international standards for these forms of testing.”

“ICAPO is grateful to the OECD for the opportunity to serve as ‘invited expert’ at the National Coordinators meeting and other key OECD meetings,” said Stephens. “We look forward to helping the OECD pursue its stated priority of promoting animal welfare within its test guidelines program.”