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In November 2000, the Chemical Committee of the Organisation of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) agreed to the abolition and deletion of the LD50 Draize Test from the OECD manual of internationally accepted Test Guidelines. The OECD manual establishes guidelines for the testing of chemicals and chemical products world-wide.
The LD50 test was developed almost 50 years ago and is so named because it is used to determine the lethal dose of a substance that will kill 50% of the animals within 14 days after a single exposure. It is one of the cruellest tests used in chemical and pharmaceutical development and toxicological research. Animals commonly used are mice, rats and rabbits.
Although OECD’s Test Guidelines are not mandated, they are the recognized reference tool for professionals working on the testing of chemicals and the assessment of their potential hazards. Individual countries, however, have their own regulations governing chemical testing. OECD member countries frequently rely heavily on OECD’s recommendations in establishing their regulations.
The OECD Committee’s decision to eliminate the LD50 test was based on the extreme suffering of a substantial number of animals. While it is a step in the right direction, it is disappointing that the Committee did not vote to replace the LD50 test with non-animal, or ‘in vitro’ tests that use cell cultures or micro-organisms. The three alternative methods proposed by OECD still use animals and two of them have death as an endpoint, thereby continuing to allow enormous animal suffering.
The Canadian Federation of Humane Societies has joined with other animal protection organizations in asking Health Canada to recommend that the OECD adopt ‘in vitro’ alternatives to the LD50 test. ‘In vitro’ tests remove the species barrier since they can be done on human skin cultures. They are also cost-effective and more flexible than animal tests. CFHS is not aware of any scientific basis for not using ‘in vitro’ tests. CFHS is asking that ‘in vitro’ tests be the default method in OECD and Health Canada guidelines, with a requirement that live animal, or ‘in vivo’ tests only be permitted if substantial scientific justification can be provided for not using ‘in vitro’ methods.
