Sejong, September 13 - From September 6 to 7, the Ministry of Environment (ME, Minister Han Wha-jin) and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) jointly organized the workshop under the theme of the 'Future of Chemical Safety Assessment - Utilization of Non-Animal Testing Data.' This event was held to promote alternatives to animal testing for chemicals, exchange relevant information, and conduct joint research with international organizations and research institutes. Over 200 representatives were present at the workshop, including those from the OECD, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the European Commission, the European Food Safety Authority, the Ministry of Health of Canada, the National Institute of Technology and Evaluation (NITE) of Japan, and Korean Environment Ministry. Experts from government agencies, universities, chemical enterprises, and civic groups also attended the workshop.

Principal Administrator for OECD's Test Guidelines Programme, Anne Gourmelon, introduced the OECD test guidelines for chemicals. Cho Gwang-yeon, Deputy Director of the Chemicals Policy Division of the Korean Environment Ministry, presented South Korea's plan for alternatives to animal testing, which will be implemented from 2022 to 2030. Tala Henry from the US EPA presented how the EPA implements the Toxic Substances Control Act by utilizing alternatives to animal testing. Elisabet Berggren from the European Commission discussed the validation of non-animal testing. Tara Barton MacLaren from the Ministry of Health of Canada and Yiki Sakuratani from NITE Japan introduced chemical assessment and management using non-animal testing data. Following the presentations, experts from research institutes and relevant industries shared various chemical substance registration and assessment cases using non-animal testing data.

On September 8, in the city of Sejong, Park Bong-gyun, Director of the Chemical Safety Division of the Korean Environment Ministry, and Bob Diderich, Head of Division, Environment Directorate of the OECD, discussed various issues on chemicals management. They discussed how to exchange relevant information on the corporate or national level to prevent repetitive testing and effectively use the data on chemicals. Then, they discussed green chemistry, which focuses on lowering hazardous chemical substances from the design and manufacturing stage. They talked about the fields that require international standardization, i.e., registering testing methods developed in Korea in the OECD Guidelines Programme and how to utilize OECD's tool to predict the hazards of chemicals.

Park Bong-gyun, Director of the Chemical Safety Division of the Korean Environment Ministry, said, "In line with the global trend for alternatives to animal testing, the Ministry of Environment developed a plan for non-animal testing last year. We will exert more efforts in researching and managing alternative testing based on the international collaboration."

Contact: Cho Gwang-yeon, Deputy Director

Chemicals Policy Division / +82-(0)44-201-6775

Foreign Media Contact: Chun Minjo(Rachel)

+82-(0)44-201-6055 / rachelmchun@korea.kr