Animal-Free Assays for endocrine disruption – from science to Regulatory Acceptance (AFARA)
People are exposed daily to different chemicals and pharmaceuticals. Safety assessment is necessary to protect us against the possible health risks of exposure to these substances. To date, safety assessment makes use of laboratory animal testing but this is increasingly being criticised. The AFARA project studies the process of acceptance and implementation of animal-free models in the human safety assessment of substances with a focus on Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals (EDCs).
Creating human-relevant testing strategies
From a societal point of view, there is a growing interest in animal welfare. From a scientific point of view, the translation of results from animals to people is limited and several human-relevant scenarios cannot be tested in animals. Though the transition to animal-free safety assessment is ongoing and countless animal-free models have been developed, these models have only been implemented to a very limited extent. This is particularly the case for the identification of endocrine-disrupting chemicals, where by definition, an adverse effect in an intact organism or its offspring needs to be demonstrated. The AFARA project studies the process of acceptance and implementation of existing animal-free models in the assessment of the safety of substances for humans with a focus on Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals (EDCs).
Our interdisciplinary consortium works on a vision for the future in which human health is better protected from the harmful effects of EDCs using testing strategies based on animal-free and human-relevant models that are accepted in regulatory frameworks.
More information about the project
The Dutch Research Council
The AFARA project (with project number NWA.1395.20.008) is part of the research programme Safety assessment via animal-free models which is financed by the Dutch Research Council (NWO).
