On 10 October, Humane Society International and MEP Mario Pirillo of the Group of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats hosted a workshop on “Advancing Safety Science and Health Research with Innovative, Non-Animal Tools.” Horizon 2020 is the European Union’s new funding programme for research, which will run from 2014 through 2020.

The workshop served as the launching point for a new HSI report by Dr Gill Langley, which calls, among other things, for the European Union and the United States to form a transatlantic research partnership to bolster the technology revolution taking place in pharmaceutical and chemical safety testing using cutting-edge non-animal techniques. HSI would like to see the EU provide substantial, dedicated funding for this critically important area through Horizon 2020. The European Commission and member states have already begun to invest in this research area.

”Horizon 2020 should drive the EU research towards innovation, excellence and international competitiveness and therefore boost modern and effective tools for human health and safety,” said MEP Pirillo.

The workshop also included invited presentations from Unilever, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre, the University of Copenhagen, and the European arm of the Center for Alternatives to Animal Testing.

Presentations

• Introductory Remarks, Mr Mario Pirillo, MEP PDF Video
• 21st Century Testing & Health Research: A Look Inside the Toolbox, Prof Dr Lisbeth Knudsen, President of ecopa, University of Copenhagen Department of Public Health, Denmark PDF Video
• The FP7 Project AXLR8: Accelerating the Transition to a Toxicity Pathway Paradigm, Troy Seidle, AXLR8 Associate Coordinator, HSI Director of Research & Toxicology, Canada PDF Video
• Mapping the Pathways of Toxicity in Humans: What are the Benefits? Prof Dr Marcel Leist, CAAT-Europe, Konstanz University, Germany PDF Video
• Industry’s Needs for 21st Century Safety Science & Non-Animal Approaches: A Unilever Perspective, Dr Julia Fentem, Vice President, Unilever Safety and Environmental Assurance, United Kingdom PDF Video
• The JRC’s Role in Advancing Safety Assessment Science, Prof Maurice Whelan, Head of Systems Toxicology Unit and Responsible for EURL ECVAM, European Commission Joint Research Centre, Italy PDF Video
• Development and Use of Advanced Testing Approaches by the US FDA, Dr Donald Prater, Deputy Director (Food), European Office, US Food and Drug Administration PDF Video
• Advancing Safety Science and Health Research Under Horizon 2020 with Innovative, Non-Animal Tools: Report Presentation, Dr Gill Langley, HSI Senior Scientific Advisor, United Kingdom PDF Video
• Watch a video of the entire workshop

HSI would like to thank the World Society for the Protection of Animals for its financial support of this workshop and our new Horizon 2020 report.