Organic Pollutants Future Prospects - Organic Pollutants: An Ecotoxicological Perspective - page 328

17.6 etHIcaL QueStIonS
There has been growing opposition to the use of vertebrate animals for toxicity
testing. This has ranged from the extremism of some animal rights organizations
to the reasoned approach of the Fund for the Replacement of Animals in Medical
Experiments (FRAME), and the European Centre for the Validation of Alternative
Methods (ECVAM) (see Balls, Bridges, and Southee 1991, issues of the jour-
nal ATLA , and publications of ECVAM at the Joint Research Centre, Ispra, Italy).
FRAME, ECVAM, and related organizations advocate the adoption of the principles
of the three Rs, namely, the reduction, refinement, and replacement of testing proce-
dures that cause suffering to animals.
Regarding ecotoxicity testing, these proposals gain some strength from the criti-
cisms raised earlier to existing practices in environmental risk assessment. There is a
case for making testing procedures more ecologically relevant, and this goes in hand
with attaching less importance to crude measures of lethal toxicity in a few species
of birds and fish (Walker 1998b). The savings made by a substantial reduction in
the numbers of vertebrates used for “lethal” toxicity testing could be used for the
development and subsequent use of testing procedures that do not cause suffering to
animals and are more ecologically relevant. Examples include sublethal tests (e.g.,
on behavior or reproduction), tests involving the use of nondestructive biomarkers,
the use of eggs for testing certain chemicals, and the refinement of tests with meso-
cosms. Rigid adherence to fixed rules would prolong the use of unscientific and
outdated practices and slow down much-needed improvements in techniques and
strategies for ecotoxicity testing. Better science should, for the most part, further the
aims of the three Rs.
17.7 Summary
With the restrictions and bans placed in developed countries on a considerable num-
ber of environmental chemicals—especially on persistent and/or highly toxic pesti-
cides—many serious pollution problems have been resolved and more attention has
come to be focused on the effects of mixtures of organic pollutants, often at quite low
concentrations. It has been argued by some that chemical pollution should be seen
as part of stress ecology, that chemicals should be considered together with other
stress factors to which free-living organisms are exposed. While this trend has been
marked in developed countries, it has not necessarily been true of other countries
where there is less control of environmental pollution by chemicals, and there are
still some serious problems with certain organic pollutants.
With improvements in scientific knowledge and related technology, there is an
expectation that more environmentally friendly pesticides will continue to be intro-
duced, and that ecotoxicity testing procedures will become more sophisticated.
There is much interest in the introduction of better testing procedures that work
to more ecologically relevant end points than the lethal toxicity tests that are still
widely used. Such a development should be consistent with the aims of organiza-
tions such as FRAME and ECVAM, which seek to reduce toxicity testing with ani-
mals. Mechanistic biomarker assays have the potential to be an important part of