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Full-Text Articles in Medicine and Health Sciences
The Future Of Teratology Research Is In Vitro, Jarrod Bailey, Andrew Knight, Jonathan Balcombe
The Future Of Teratology Research Is In Vitro, Jarrod Bailey, Andrew Knight, Jonathan Balcombe
Andrew Knight, PhD
Birth defects induced by maternal exposure to exogenous agents during pregnancy are preventable, if the agents themselves can be identified and avoided. Billions of dollars and manhours have been dedicated to animal-based discovery and characterisation methods over decades. We show here, via a comprehensive systematic review and analysis of this data, that these methods constitute questionable science and pose a hazard to humans. Mean positive and negative predictivities barely exceed 50%; discordance among the species used is substantial; reliable extrapolation from animal data to humans is impossible, and virtually all known human teratogens have so far been identified in spite …
Animal Carcinogenicity Studies: Implications For The Reach System, Andrew Knight, Jarrod Bailey, Jonathan Balcombe
Animal Carcinogenicity Studies: Implications For The Reach System, Andrew Knight, Jarrod Bailey, Jonathan Balcombe
Andrew Knight, PhD
The 2001 European Commission proposal for the Registration, Evaluation and Authorisation of Chemicals (REACH) aims to improve public and environmental health by assessing the toxicity of, and restricting exposure to, potentially toxic chemicals. The greatest benefits are expected to accrue from decreased cancer incidences. Hence the accurate identification of chemical carcinogens must be a top priority for the REACH system. Due to a paucity of human clinical data, the identification of potential human carcinogens has conventionally relied on animal tests. However, our survey of the US Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) toxic chemicals database revealed that, for a majority of the …