Animal use for testing chemicals under REACH continues to increase, despite advances in non-animal safety science during the past 15 years. The application of modern science and technology, and the use of ‘next generation’ weight-of-evidence assessment approaches, are embedded in EU guidance for establishing the safety of cosmetics and foods – and of the ingredients used in these products. However, this is still not the case for the regulation of chemicals. Under the new Chemicals Strategy for Sustainability, thought leaders in human health and environmental protection are calling on the European Commission to quickly embrace the benefits of modern and innovative non-animal safety science, in place of outdated animal testing, if the EU is to be a leader in safe and sustainable innovation under the European Green Deal transformational change ambitions. The European Commission also needs to enable companies to meet their legal obligation to only conduct animal testing as a last resort, by providing a more flexible, science-based and consistent regulatory framework for assuring chemical safety, which supports the integration of data from different sources. We are at a tipping point for closing the gap between regulatory chemicals testing and modern safety science. It is time to join forces, across policy makers, scientists, regulators and lawyers, to lead the paradigm shift needed to deliver what EU citizens want – namely, chemicals and products that are safe and sustainable, without resorting to animal testing.

The advent of adverse outcome pathways (AOPs) has provided a new lexicon for description of mechanistic toxicology, and a renewed enthusiasm for exploring modes of action resulting in adverse health and environmental effects. In addition, AOPs have been used successfully as a framework for the design and development of non-animal approaches to toxicity testing. Although the value of AOPs is widely recognised, there remain challenges and opportunities associated with their use in practise. The purpose of this article is to consider specifically how the future trajectory of AOPs may provide a basis for addressing some of those challenges and opportunities.

For comparing the environmental relevance of household and personal care products, the Critical Dilution Volume (CDV) originally developed for the EU Ecolabel of detergents is an often used key criterion. The EU Ecolabel Detergents Ingredient Database (DID) is a publicly available information basis for derivation of product CDV by providing data on key descriptors for the environmental fate and effects of chemical substances used in consumer products. The alterations of the CDV-relevant descriptors in the revised DID list (2004) have led, in many cases, to an unrealistic depiction of the environmental behaviour of product ingredients and to inadequate product evaluations. The paper reports on the framework of and the experiences with a novel DID list developed by an expert group of the German Hauptausschuss Detergentien (HAD) enabling an environmentally more realistic comparison of products.

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