The 10th World Congress: Where have we been and where are we going?

Posted: April 23, 2017*

An assembly of around 1000 scientists, policy-makers, and animal advocates from around the world will have the opportunity to come together from August 20-24, 2017 in Seattle, Washington for the 10th World Congress on Alternatives and Animal Use in the Life Sciences. The deadline of April 24, 2017 for abstract submission is rapidly approaching!

The World Congresses on Alternatives and Animal Use in the Life Sciences have been a force for progress since the first World Congress (WC) convened in Baltimore, Maryland in 1993. The networking and learning experiences, enhanced by the participation of leading international science and policy experts from a number of areas of expertise, have fostered new scientific developments and improved policy understanding, both of which are essential to progress in reforming regulatory safety testing practices.

The World Congresses provide the opportunity for capturing a snapshot of where we are at regular intervals. As we approach the 10th World Congress, it is a good time for stakeholders to reflect on where we were three years ago at WC9 and where we expect to be in 2020 at the 11th World Congress. What scientific breakthroughs, new methods, methods validation, and regulatory reforms have taken place, and what are reasonable expectations for 2020?

To celebrate this milestone, AltTox’s Table of the World Congresses has been updated to include the 2017 10th World Congress (WC10) (Table 1). Information currently available on past World Congresses, including WC websites, proceedings, abstracts, programs, and related publications, has been updated in the “Proceedings/Publications” section of the table.

Abstracts and manuscripts from previous World Congresses were originally published in various forms – as books (first 3 WCs), abstract booklet handouts, on a website (New Orleans meeting), and/or published in the ALTEX journal (the more recent events). Many of the WC websites and the content they hosted are no longer available, and one of the goals of this min-archive is to encourage a greater effort be made to retain these historical documents and information. We have attempted to provide a summary of what is still accessible in Table 1.

For more on the history of the World Congresses, see the article 7th World Congress – Animal Alternative’s Premier 2009 Event.

Table 1. AltTox’s Table of the World Congresses: The World Congress on Alternatives & Animal Use in the Life Sciences meetings, 1993-present.

World Congress	Year	Location	Host	Congress Co-Chairs	Proceedings/Publications1	Attendees2
WC1	1993	Baltimore, Maryland, USA	CAAT	Alan Goldberg & Bert van Zutphen	Goldberg, VanZutphen & Principe (1995). Alternative Methods in Toxicology, Vol. 11, World Congress Proceedings, Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., New York.* Conference Reports, ALTEX, 2/94.	750
WC2	1996	Utrecht, The Netherlands	University of Utrecht	Bert van Zutphen & Michael Balls	Van Zupthen & Balls (1997). Animal Alternatives, Welfare and Ethics, Elsevier.** CAAT Newsletter. (1997). Conference Highlights, 14(2). Elzanowski. (1998). The Second World Congress on Alternatives and Animal Use in the Life Sciences. J. Appl. Anim. Welf. Sci. 1998; (1):87-90	900-1000; 37 countries
WC3	1999	Bologna, Italy	ECVAM	Michael Balls & Andrew Rowan	Balls, Halder & Van Zeller. (2000). Progress in the Reduction, Refinement, and Replacement of Animal Experimentation: Proceedings of the 3rd World Congress… Elsevier.*	850; 40 countries
WC4	2002	New Orleans, Louisiana, USA	HSUS; Alternatives Congress Trust (ACT)	Andrew Rowan & Horst Spielmann	Balls, Combes, Clothier, Festing, Jukes & Morton. (2003). Some Reflections on the Fourth World Congress on Alternatives and Animal Use in the Life Sciences, New Orleans, Louisiana, August 11 Through 15, 2002. J. Appl. Anim. Wel. Sci. 6(2), 131-149.* Fourth World Congress. (2004). ATLA 32, Suppl. 1	500; 34 countries
WC5	2005	Berlin, Germany	ZEBET; ACT	Horst Spielmann & Andrew Rowan	5th World Congress on Alternatives and Animal Use in the Life Sciences. (10 August 2005). BfR Information No. 026/2005. The Fifth World Congress on Alternatives and Animal Use in the Life Sciences. (2006). Altern. Lab. Anim. 34(1), 119-125* Abstracts to the 5th World Congress 2005 on Alternatives & Animal Use in the Life Sciences. August 21-25, 2005. Berlin, Germany. (2005). ALTEX 22, Spec No:5-348 Proceedings of the 5th World Congress on Alternatives and Animal Use in the Life Sciences, Berlin 2005. (2006). ALTEX 23, Suppl:1-460	~900; 45 countries
WC6	2007	Tokyo, Japan	Japanese Society of Alternatives for Animal Experiments (JSAAE); Science Council of Japan; ACT	Yasuo Ohno & Horst Spielmann	JSAAE. (2008). 6th World Congress on Alternatives & Animal Use in the Life Sciences. ALTEX, Vol. 14. The Sixth World Congress on Alternatives and Animal Use in the Life Sciences. (2007). Altern. Lab. Anim. 35(5), 539-543.	>1,000; >35 countries
WC7: Calling on Science	2009	Rome, Italy	ACT	Herman Koëter & Thomas Hartung	WC7 Website WC7 Program ACT Press Release. (Sept. 2009). Milestone animal welfare achievements at the World Congress on the Use of Animals and Alternatives in the Life Sciences, Rome, Italy. ALTEX Archives: WC7 Abstracts ALTEX Archives: Highlights of WC7 Photos on AltTox	>950; >40 countries
WC8: The Three Rs – Together it’s possible	2011	Montreal, Quebec, Canada	Canadian Council on Animal Care	Clément Gauthier & Herman Koëter	Call for Abstracts Conference Report ALTEX Archive - 1/12 - WC8 Awards Bestowed at the Eighth World Congress on Alternatives. (2011). AltTox.org	almost 900; 52 countries
WC9: Humane Science in the 21st Century	2014	Prague, Czech Republic	ACT	Dagmar Jírová & Horst Spielmann	Website WC9 Program ALTEX Archive - 1/14 - WC9	945 submitted abstracts
WC10: The 3s in Action	2017	Seattle, Washington, USA	ACT	laine Faustman, Robert Kavlock, & Joanne Zurlo	Website WC10 Program
1To help us make this information as inclusive a possible, please send additional links or sources of information on WC1-WC9 to alttox@hotmail.com 2As reported on/by WC websites, conference reports, Congress chairs, etc. *These articles are now in the Georgetown Library repository. **The world library catalog, WorldCat, also contains information on libraries providing access to the early WC books.

*Updated: April 24, 2017