Background & Symposium Description

The National Research Council (NRC) issued its landmark report on “Toxicity Testing in the 21st Century: A Vision and a Strategy” in 2007. The report’s vision for assessing the  potential adverse effects of chemicals on human health shifts the focus from overt effects such as pathological changes in animals to upstream effects on biological pathways.  The new framework is centered on human biology and a computational, systems approach.

The excitement over the NRC vision has led to a general emphasis on “21st century toxicology”—a phrase drawn from the report’s title and intended to encompass multiple approaches to toxicity testing that harness modern advances in biology and technology.  These inter-related approaches have clear relevance to the NRC vision and are to be encouraged, yet each reflects its own priorities and mandates.  Consequently, it is not surprising that no existing initiative fully captures the NRC vision.

It could be argued that such diverse efforts to usher in 21st century toxicology may make more progress than a single focused effort.  Yet, for stakeholders interested in the explicit and prompt implementation of the NRC vision, the current situation is not fully satisfying.

Thus, the time was right to take stock of these related efforts.  Several workshops and conference sessions had already been held on 21st century toxicology.  The Human Toxicology Project Symposium emphasized how ongoing and planned initiatives specifically relate to the NRC vision.  Moreover, we included presentations on initiatives not normally associated with the NRC vision but which share its emphasis on exploring biological pathways as a means of gaining insight into human biology.

The symposium sought to address questions such as the following:

  • Are all components of the NRC vision being implemented?
  • Are there new approaches that complement current efforts?
  • Are there ways to prioritize components of the vision to expedite progress?
  • Are there ways to refine some related efforts to achieve synergies?
  • Are current efforts sufficiently well-funded and coordinated internationally?

The symposium explored these and related issues with the understanding that a coordinated global paradigm shift is needed to an in vitro approach for the risk assessment of chemicals and drugs, based on a modern understanding of human biology and biological pathways.

The symposium emphasized U.S. developments but also included international elements.  Moreover, it focused on the core components of NRC vision—toxicity testing and dose-response and extrapolation modeling.  Other workshops have capably extended the vision to address exposure-related issues.  The symposium evaluated progress to date and identified the highest priority needs to accelerate success.  The symposium also underscored the need for a concerted effort on the order of large-scale biology projects such as the Human Genome Project, in order to accelerate implementation of the NRC vision.  A summary of the symposium will be published in the scientific literature.