For the toxicological assessment of new chemicals and nanomaterials, 13,000 animals are still used today in Switzerland alone, depending on the production quantities of the individual substances.

Most of these animals are rodents that are subjected to, for example inhalation or instillation studies or oral administration for 28 days. In addition, thousands of animals are being used in basic toxicological research every year.

Although there are more and more non-animal methods and thus in- vitro data available, classical risk assessment as well as tolerability testing are still based on the extrapolation of animal data when it comes to determining the probability of occurrence of a disease in humans (so-called human effect factor, HEF).

We support the further development of a concept that scientifically enables the integration of in vitro data for the determination of the HEF in risk assessment, because only in this way will animal-free methods and their results have a chance of gaining regulatory acceptance and reduce animal testing in this area.