Solutions explained
Person of contact
Katia Lacasse
[email protected]Why they matter?
Ensuring the safety of chemicals is essential for protecting human health and the environment. While traditional safety testing has relied heavily on animal studies, scientific advancements have led to the development of New Approach Methodologies (NAMs). While the definition of NAMs varies, the European Chemical Agency defines this as all approaches that can help reduce the dependency on animal testing and when used alone or combined can enable chemical safety assessments or serve for screening and informing testing strategies.
NAMs are revolutionising chemical safety assessments by replacing existing animal tests with cutting-edge technologies such as computational modeling, high-throughput screening, and human-relevant cell-based assays. These methodologies not only align with regulatory goals to reduce animal testing but also enhance our ability to predict chemical hazards more accurately and efficiently.
The chemical industry has been investing in, and using, where possible and applicable, alternative methods and approaches like computational toxicology models, grouping and categorising similar substances, read-across to validated data of similar substances, and validated in vitro and in chemico assays to demonstrate the safety of a substance in REACH dossiers. But more needs to be done to increase the uptake; through, for instance, increased regulatory update and more funding. Read more about our views here.
How do new approach methodologies work?
NAMs encompass a range of techniques that enable precise and human-relevant chemical safety assessments. By leveraging data from various sources, they help build a more comprehensive understanding of how chemicals interact with biological systems. These approaches support regulatory decision-making and contribute to the overall goal of Next Generation Risk Assessment (NGRA)鈥攁 science-driven framework that moves away from traditional animal testing.