The European Commission has published its Roadmap towards Phasing Out Animal Testing for Chemical Safety Assessments, marking an important milestone in the transition towards animal-free, human-relevant approaches for assessing chemical safety.
Developed in response to the European Citizens’ Initiative “Save Cruelty-Free Cosmetics”, the roadmap outlines a long-term strategy for replacing animal testing while maintaining a high level of protection for human health and the environment. It proposes actions spanning research and innovation, regulatory implementation, stakeholder engagement and international collaboration.
For RISK-HUNT3R, the publication of the roadmap is particularly significant. Many of the scientific concepts explored within the project are reflected throughout the roadmap and its supporting analysis, including the transition towards Next-Generation Risk Assessment (NGRA), the use of mechanistic evidence, and the development of structured frameworks for integrating information from non-animal methods.
The roadmap’s supporting analysis also highlights the Alternative Safety Profiling Algorithm (ASPA), developed within RISK-HUNT3R as part of the ASPIS cluster, as a structured NGRA framework. It further states that frameworks such as ASPA are “an indispensable prerequisite” for further work on the roadmap, helping to clarify how future legislative and guidance developments could support the transition towards animal-free safety assessment.
Over the past years, RISK-HUNT3R and the wider ASPIS cluster have actively contributed to the scientific and regulatory dialogue surrounding the roadmap, including through ASPIS satellite meetings organised alongside the European Commission’s roadmap workshops.
As the roadmap moves into the implementation phase, the project’s results, tools and frameworks provide an important contribution to the transition towards animal-free chemical safety assessment.