ICCVAM held its third public forum on May 25, 2016, at NIH in Bethesda, Maryland. This meeting was attended by more than 150 individuals in person and remotely, and provided an opportunity for public interaction with representatives from ICCVAM member agencies. ICCVAM representatives provided information about their agencies’ activities relevant to the development and use of alternative test methods. Comments from stakeholder groups praised recent progress by ICCVAM and member agencies toward replacing required animal tests with alternatives. Several commenters suggested future activities and areas for increased focus.
The 2017 public forum was held on May 23 at NIH in Bethesda. Twelve public participants and about 50 webcast viewers joined more than 30 government employees representing 10 ICCVAM member agencies. Representatives of the attending ICCVAM member agencies described internal and collaborative activities to advance development and acceptance of alternative methods. Presentations at the meeting also discussed ongoing development of the U.S. strategic roadmap, which was also the focus of most of the public comments submitted for the meeting.
The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) joined ICCVAM in 2016; Elijah Petersen, Ph.D., presented an update on NIST activities at the 2016 Public Forum.