Animal Models of Responses Resulting from Short-term Exposures

Predictive safety evaluation for all classes and all types of products is a recognized requirement on an international scale1. In devising predictive tests for short-term exposure investigations in toxicology, the problem of mimicking the infinite complexity of physiological systems has led to the simplistic acceptance that animal models can provide answers to questions that relate the interactive ability of chemical moieties to various physiological systems. The apparent success of this approach has led to the development of a very pragmatic attitude in relation to the needs of predictive tests for short-term exposure toxicology. Pragmatism is not wholly unacceptable as an approach to the problems of safety evaluation, but it is essential that responsible investigators have access to all available knowledge and experience in respect of the ways in which any product that is being tested will be used in practice, in order to avoid pseudo-respectable testing procedures that may be inappropriate2.