Integrated toxicity testing: putting the pieces back together

The evaluation of the toxicity/safety of chemicals requires the integration of a wide range of physical, chemical and biological information. Traditional approaches have relied on the use of in vivo toxicity testing as the main source of biological data for such evaluations. Alternative toxicity testing approaches have been proposed, to provide new databases for toxicity evaluations that would reduce/replace the need for in vivo toxicity testing. After 10-25 years of effort, depending on when you start the clock, the question arises as to where do these approaches stand? What strategies have been proposed to incorporate alternative toxicity testing data into the toxicity evaluation process? What is the current impact of alternative methods on the way we do business? These are important questions to explore, in order to understand what progress has been made. However, an even more interesting question is where will we be 25 years from now? What will be the ultimate contribution of alternative toxicity testing to the chemical toxicity/safety evaluation process?