Additional Resources for Non-animal Toxicity Test Methods

In many countries, scientists are required to conduct a thorough literature search for alternative methods prior to using animals in research and testing. The following websites, articles, and databases contain useful information on animal alternatives.

ALTEX article Alternatives to Animal Experimentation in Basic Research (2004)

AltTox, Databases: scientific and chemical toxicity sections

AltTox, Existing Non-animal Alternatives (2011)

AltTox, Table of Validated and Accepted Alternative Methods (2011)

AltWeb Search for Alternatives

Canadian Council on Animal Care (CCAC) 3Rs Search Guide (2010)

CCAC Alternative Test Methods Table: Validation & Regulatory Status (2011)

DB-ALM ECVAM Database Service on Alternative Methods to Animal Experimentation

EC Institute for Health and Consumer Protection (IHCP) video, Finding Alternatives to Animal Testing (2010)

EC IHCP, TSAR: Tracking System for Alternative test methods Review, Validation and Approval in the Context of EU Regulations on Chemicals

EPAA-supported article Cross-sector review of drivers and available 3Rs approaches for acute systemic toxicity testing by Seidle, et al. (2010)

European Centre for the Validation of Alternative Methods (ECVAM)

Fund for the Replacement of Animals in Medical Experiments (FRAME): A Guide to Searching for Alternatives to the Use of Laboratory Animals (2007)

Go3R semantic search to avoid animal experiments

Hooijmans, et al., Radboud University, Central Animal Laboratory and 3R Research Centre articles:

• A search filter for increasing the retrieval of animal studies in Embase (2011)
• Improving planning, design, reporting and scientific quality of animal experiments by using the Gold Standard Publication Checklist, in addition to the ARRIVE guidelines (2011)
• Enhancing search efficiency by means of a search filter for finding all studies on animal experimentation in PubMed (2010)
• A gold standard publication checklist to improve the quality of animal studies, to fully integrate the Three Rs, and to make systematic reviews more feasible (2010)

Interagency Coordinating Committee on the Validation of Alternative Methods (ICCVAM)

INVITTOX list of protocols for in vitro techniques: see DB-ALM ECVAM Database for current list of protocols

Japanese Center for the Validation of Alternative Methods (JaCVAM)

National Institutes of Health: Searching for Alternatives to Painful Procedures Used on Research Animals (2004)

NLM TOXNET databases

NC3Rs Information Portal

NC3Rs article Improving Bioscience Research Reporting: The ARRIVE Guidelines for Reporting Animal Research by Kilkenny, et al. (2010)

NC3Rs article Acute toxicity testing of chemicals: opportunities to avoid redundant testing and use alternative approaches by Creton, et al. (2010)

Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Guidance & Review Documents

OECD Series on Testing and Assessment/Adopted Guidance and Review Documents

OECD Draft Test Guidelines

UCDavis Center for Animal Alternatives Information, Literature Search for Alternatives Worksheet

UK Health and Safety Executive (HSE) and UK REACH Competent Authority guidance: REACH - Minimisation of Animal Testing (2010)

USDA Animal Welfare Information Center Bulletin (AWIC) Bulletin, Vol. 13, No. 3, Summer 2008: The Use of Databases, Information Centers and Guidelines When Planning Research That May Involve Animals

USDA AWIC Bulletin, Vol. 12, No. 3-4, Summer 2006: Searching Bibliographic Databases for Alternatives

ZEBET (Centre for Documentation and Evaluation of Alternative Methods to Animal Experiments, Germany): AnimAlt-ZEBET database