Human & Experimental Toxicology

 

Advanced Search

Journal Navigation

Journal Home

Subscriptions

Archive

Contact Us

Table of Contents

Click here for more information

Sign In to gain access to subscriptions and/or personal tools.
This Article
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow References
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Right arrow Citation Map
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in ISI Web of Science
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to Saved Citations
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Right arrow Request Reprints
Right arrow Add to My Marked Citations
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via ISI Web of Science (8)
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Hoffmann, S
Right arrow Articles by Hartung, T
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Hoffmann, S
Right arrow Articles by Hartung, T
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us   Add to Digg   Add to Reddit   Add to Technorati  
What's this?
Human & Experimental Toxicology, Vol. 25, No. 9, 497-513 (2006)
DOI: 10.1191/0960327106het648oa

Toward an evidence-based toxicology

S Hoffmann

European Commission, JRC - Joint Research Centre, Institute for Health & Consumer Protection, ECVAM - European Centre for the Validation of Alternative Methods, 21020 Ispra (VA), Italy, sebastian.hoffmann{at}jrc.it

T Hartung

European Commission, JRC - Joint Research Centre, Institute for Health & Consumer Protection, ECVAM - European Centre for the Validation of Alternative Methods, 21020 Ispra (VA), Italy

The increasing demands on toxicology of large-scale risk assessment programmes for chemicals and emerging or expanding areas of chemical use suggest it is timely to review the toxicological toolbox. Like in clinical medicine, where an evidence-based medicine (EBM) is critically reviewing traditional approaches, toxicology has the opportunity to reshape and enlarge its methodology and approaches on the basis of compounded scientific knowledge. Such revision would have to be based on structured reviews of current practice, ie, assessment of test performance characteristics, mechanistic understanding, extended quality assurance, formal validation and the use of integrated testing strategies. This form of revision could optimize the balance between safety, costs and animal welfare, explicitly stating and, where possible, quantifying uncertainties. After a self-critical reassessment of current practices and evaluation of the thus generated information, such an evidence-based toxicology (EBT) promises to make better use of resources and to increase the quality of results, facilitating their interpretation. It shall open up hazard and also risk assessments to new technologies, flexibly accommodating current and future mechanistic understanding. An EBT will be better prepared to answer the continuously growing safety demands of modern societies.

Key Words: evidence-based • reliability • test assessment • toxicology • validation • relevance


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us   Add to Digg Digg   Add to Reddit Reddit   Add to Technorati Technorati    What's this?