US EPA updates pesticide test guidelines

The US EPA Office of Pesticide Programs (OPP) has issued five new policy and guidance documents to advance its integrated approach to pesticide testing and assessment. The guidance for OPP employees is aimed at optimising existing knowledge, providing consistency in data collection and avoiding the generation and evaluation of data that do not influence regulatory decisions. It is developing and evaluating new technologies in molecular, cellular and computational sciences to supplement or replace traditional methods of toxicity testing and risk assessment. These are partly aimed at reducing the level of testing on animals.