This Article  • Full text  • PDF  • Send to a friend  • Save in My Folder  • Save to citation manager  • Permissions  Citing Articles  • Contact me when this article is cited  Related Content  • Similar articles in JAMA  Topic Collections  • Occupational and Environmental Medicine  • Alert me on articles by topic

Bridget M. Kuehn

JAMA. 2008;299(12):1415-1416.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text and any section headings.

Scientists from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) are joining forces to try out a new toxicity testing paradigm. If validated, the new testing plan could dramatically increase the speed at which chemicals are tested and may reduce the number and use of animals in such tests.

More than 1500 chemicals can be tested for toxicity in each of these dishes, allowing thousands to be screened within hours. (Photo credit: Maggie Bartlett/NHGRI)

The need for a new approach to toxicity testing was outlined in a 2007 National Research Council Report (http://www.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=11970), which suggested more collaboration among scientific disciplines and a greater emphasis on in vitro tests and the assessment of the toxicity of a compound over a range of doses. Citing this need, officials from the EPA and several NIH agencies unveiled a 5-year plan to pool their expertise . . . [Full Text of this Article]