In a 7 November 2005 meeting in Brussels, Belgium, the European Commission and industry associations from the pharmaceutical, chemical, cosmetics, and biotechnology sectors signed a joint declaration to promote alternative approaches to animal testing, and the development and validation of replacement, reduction, and refinement methods1,2.

According to Janez Potočnik, European Commissioner for Science and Research, “The agreement with different industry sectors is a major step forward in making validated alternative methods available. We will support the partnership by increasing our efforts to support research, development and evaluation of alternative testing methods under the new Research Framework Programme2.”

A task force will design concrete activities during the first quarter of 2006, to promote the development, validation and regulatory acceptance of alternative approaches, such as:

• “Mapping of research activities and current strategies;

• “Cooperation in research;

• “Development of alternative approaches, including intelligent testing strategies;

• “Facilitate the validation process by available knowledge; and

• “Practical mechanisms to facilitate the regulatory acceptance process of alternative approaches2.”