ICCVAM Biennial Report 2020-2021

In September 2019, the U.S. Government Accountability Office issued a report, “Animal Use in Research: Federal Agencies Should Assess and Report on Their Efforts to Develop and Promote Alternatives.” The report describes how the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, USDA, and EPA ensure researchers consider the use of alternatives to animals and examines the steps the agencies have taken to facilitate the use of alternative research methods and to assess the effect of their efforts on animal use. The report recommended that ICCVAM establish a workgroup to develop metrics that ICCVAM member agencies could use to assess progress made toward reducing, refining, or replacing animal use in testing. Furthermore, the report recommended that such metrics be incorporated into ICCVAM Biennial Progress Reports. In response, ICCVAM established its Metrics Workgroup in early 2020. The workgroup included members from nine ICCVAM agencies. Its charge was to determine how agencies can best address the Government Accountability Office report’s recommendations within the context of the ICCVAM Authorization Act.

In March 2021, the ICCVAM Metrics Workgroup published “Measuring U.S. Federal Agency Progress Toward Implementation of Alternative Methods in Toxicity Testing,” which describes its findings and recommendations. The workgroup’s key finding was that no one set of metrics can be used by all ICCVAM member agencies to assess progress toward reducing, refining, or replacing animal use in testing. The workgroup instead recommended that each agency develop its own metrics that are relevant and practical to their unique situation. This document describes the recommendations of the ICCVAM Metrics Workgroup along with references and other materials that can be used to follow federal agency progress in promoting the use of alternative toxicological methods.

In response to the Metrics Workgroup’s recommendations, ICCVAM agencies have developed webpages to inform their stakeholders about progress on adoption of alternatives and reduction of animal use. Links to those pages are available on the NTP website. Activities to assess progress toward reducing, refining, or replacing animal use in testing are also described throughout this report.