PETA Workshop Furthers Work on Developing Alternate Testing Strategies for Studying the Effects of Nanomaterials in the Lung
A workshop organized by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) Science Consortium Ltd. has led to several publications developing alternate testing strategies (non-animal methods) for studying nanomaterial effects in the lung. ATS are the future of toxicity testing, reducing, or replacing the use of animals for establishing the safety of new materials.
An article released on AAAS quoted Dr. Monita Sharma on the goals of last year’s workshop:
“International experts who took part in last year's workshop have advanced the understanding and application of non-animal methods of studying nanomaterial effects in the lung. Good science is leading the way toward more humane testing of nanomaterials, which, in turn, will lead to better protection of human health.”
Apart of the proceedings from the 2015 workshop, Dr. Sharma published a review on pulmonary fibrosis resulting from nanomaterial exposure in the journal Archives of Toxicology. Entitled ‘Predicting pulmonary fibrosis in humans after exposure to multi-walled carbon nanotubes’ the review summarizes current advancements in in vivo and in vitro methods to help predict lung damage resulting from carbon nanotube exposure.
Proceedings from the workshop also included two other publications from earlier this year. One publication summarized expert opinion from the workshop on relevant in vitro approaches to assess lung injury from nanomaterials; the second on developing relevant in vitro dosing techniques to assess the lung toxicity of nanomaterials.
