Online Database Could Reduce Chemical Tests on Animals

To ensure human safety, agricultural chemical formulations, such as pesticides, are tested on animals. Image credit: University of YorkScientists have developed a new online data sharing system that may reduce the number of animals being subjected to lab tests.

The database, developed by scientists at the University of York and SimOmics Ltd, would give members of the agricultural chemical production industry shared access to chemical formulations.

For confidentiality reasons, chemical formulations are not currently shared throughout the industry, which results in the duplicative process of testing the same chemicals over and over again from company to company, increasing the number of animals being tested upon.

Professor Jon Timmis, Head of the University's Department of Electronic Engineering and CEO of SimOmics Ltd, said: "It is crucial that agricultural chemical products are tested for their safety before they are used in the environment.

"Small animals, such as rats and rabbits, are currently used to test chemical formulations, but there is now a growing commitment across the industry to reduce the number of animals used in testing and eventually replace them altogether," he said. "We estimate that the new system we are working on could reduce the need for tests on more than 1,000 animals a year."

"Our new system will explore whether putting an evidence-based data management in place, which can be provided to a system regulator, will help facilitate the sharing of confidential data and models in an acceptable way, potentially cutting the use of animal testing in the thousands each year."

The researchers will develop algorithms enabling the tool to make predictions based on the already available testing data, in some case, eliminating the need for additional experiments.

Professor Timmis added: "Development of these kinds of technologies will help to change the mind-set of whole industries and regulators as well as promote the use of alternative testing tools and reusable data. We have seen much industry support for this research already, so we are looking forward to launching the new system within the next 12 months."