Information Day REACH, TSCA and Toxicology of 21st Century

October 28, 2010

Steigenberger Insel-Hotel. Konstanz, Germany

This Information Day was graciously sponsored by BASF SE – The Chemical Company.


The Center for Alternatives to Animal Testing in Europe (CAAT-Europe) operates as a joint venture of the University of Konstanz, Germany and CAAT at Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, to provide first-hand, state-of-the-art information about alternative methods and their use in meeting regulatory requirements.

CAAT-Europe invites to the first in a series of high level Information Days. CAAT-Europe Information Day

The October 28 event focused on the status quo of REACH, the US Toxic Substance Control Act (TSCA) reauthorization, and the implementation of the US National Research Council strategy for Toxicity Testing in the 21st Century.

The REACH directive in the EU and the emerging TSCA reauthorization in the US are large-scale programs to obtain toxicological data for old compounds, which prompt testing needs and changes in methods. This Information day aimed to give a status update on REACH and TSCA to a European audience. Moreover, CAAT-Europe introduced the report of US National Research Council, Toxicity Testing in the 21st Century which put forward the vision on advanced toxicity testing and human health assessment. The authors describe in this report that the explanatory power of toxicological risk assessment can be maximized by employing high throughput in vitro screening assays, tests in lower organisms, systems biology, functional genomics and transcriptomics as well as predictive in silico approaches. This Information day aimed to introduce this vision to a European audience by inviting some of the key US players as speakers.

Speakers included representatives from:

  • The National Research Council, USA (NRC)
  • National Academy for Science, USA (NAS)
  • US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
  • American Chemistry Council (ACC), invited
  • BASF SE, The Chemical Company
  • BDF Beiersdorf AG
  • Agilent Technologies, Inc.
  • RDS Royal Dutch Shell plc
  • The Johns-Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health

Meeting location:

Steigenberger Inselhotel (Festsaal), Konstanz, Germany

Program:

10:00-10:15    Welcoming remarks by Thomas Hartung, Marcel Leist, Mardas Daneshian

10:15-10:45    Dr. Joanne Zurlo, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore 'Evidence-based Toxicology'

10:45-11:15    Prof. Dr. Dr. Thomas Hartung, CAAT 'REACH – update on status'

11:15-11:45    Dr. Melvin Andersen, The Hamner Institutes 'Toxicity Testing in the 21st Century'

11:45-12:30    Prof. Dr. Dr. Thomas Hartung, CAAT 'Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) - comparison with REACH'

12:30-13:30    lunch and coffee

13:30-14:00    Dr. Robert Kavlock, US EPA 'The ToxCast program'

14:00-14:30    Dr. Andreas Schepky, Beiersdorf 'Alternative testing in the cosmetic industry'

14:30-15:00    Dr. Bennard van Ravenzwaay, BASF 'The BASF Metabolomics program'

15:00-15:30    Mr. Mark Vossenaar, BSc BEcon, Agilent 'Perspectives in Systems Toxicology'

15:30-16:00    Dr. Chantal Smulders, Shell 'REACH and the petrochemical industry'

16:00             closing remarks