The Frank R. Lautenberg Chemical Safety for the 21st Century Act directs the EPA to reduce and replace the use of vertebrate animals in chemical substance testing when scientifically feasible, as well as promote the development and timely incorporation of alternative test methods, which are referred to as “new approach methodologies,” or NAMs, in decision-making.  EPA’s former administrator also issued a directive to reduce vertebrate animal testing, and the Agency put forward a workplan in June 2020 laying out a roadmap for implementation.  While EPA and States such as California have begun to utilize some new methodologies in their work and have recognized that NAMs hold great promise for public health protection, the development, validation, and utilization of NAMs have raised complex scientific and legal questions that will be explored in this webinar.  Please join us for an educational panel, to be followed by a conversation about the benefits and challenges of incorporating NAMs into toxicity testing.

This half day webinar will discuss potential changes in the regulatory process that could lead to a more widespread acceptance and use of NAMs, how NAMs could be used to meet certain endpoints for which there are currently no animal test protocols, how to express the value, legitimacy, and uncertainty of NAMs to stakeholders and issues of validation and regulatory acceptance.

We hope you can connect with us and learn from and engage with our excellent panelists.

The registration form will ask participants to choose a breakout room. We will do our best to assign participants to the breakout rooms specified in the registration form. If you do not select a breakout room topic, you will be randomly assigned. Please include your preference when you register, and we look forward to the discussions!

Breakout Rooms:
1. Regulatory Flexibility
2. Information gaps NAMs can fill
3. Engaging and communicating with stakeholders
4. EPA’s 2035 Directive
5. Metrics

Panel:
Tim Malloy, J.D., University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), Co-Moderator
Kristie Sullivan, VP of Research Policy for Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, Co-Moderator
Paul Locke, J.D., DrPH, Associate Professor at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
Rusty Thomas, Ph.D., Director of EPA’s Center for Computational Toxicology and Exposure
Joel Tickner, Ph.D., Executive Director for Association for the Advancement of Alternatives Assessment, Executive Director of Green Chemistry and Commerce Council, and Professor at University of Massachusetts Lowell
Lauren Zeise, Ph.D., Director of California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment