The OECD is committed to the implementation of the 3R-principles, Replacement, Reduction and Refinement, as first laid down by Russel & Burch in 1959, in their “The Principles of Humane Experimental Technique”. Since the adoption in 1981 of the first set of Test Guidelines, many of the genetic toxicity tests  have been developed or revised to introduce aspects of the 3R-principles.

 

TG	Title	Original adoption	3R relevance and most recent update
471	Bacterial Reverse Mutation Test	26 May 1983	21 July 1997: In vitro test for point mutation*
472	Genetic Toxicology: Escherichia coli, Reverse Assay	26 May 1983	Date of deletion: 21 July 1997 (Method merged with TG 471)
473	In vitro Mammalian Chromosome Aberration Test	26 May 1983	21 July 1997: In vitro test method*
474	Mammalian Erythrocyte Micronucleus Test	26 May 1983	21 July 1997: Animal test (reduction method compared to 1983 version, uses a smaller number of animals)
476	In vitro Mammalian Cell Gene Mutation Test	4 April 1984	21 July 1997: In vitro test for gene mutations (genetic toxicity)*
477	Genetic Toxicology: Sex-Linked Recessive Lethal Test in Drosophilia melanogaster	4 April 1984	Test method on invertebrates
479	Genetic Toxicology: In vitro Sister Chromatid Exchange assay in Mammalian Cells	23 October 1986	In vitro test for DNA exchanges between sister chromatids (genetic toxicity)*
480	Genetic Toxicology: Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Gene Mutation Assay	23 October 1986	In vitro test for gene mutations in Saccharomyces (genetic toxicity)*
481	Genetic Toxicology: Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Mitotic Recombination Assay	23 October 1986	In vitro test for mitotic recombination in saccharomyces (genetic toxicity)*
482	Genetic Toxicology: DNA Damage and Repair, Unscheduled DNA Synthesis in Mammalian Cells in vitro	23 October 1986	In vitro test method*

 

* All the in vitro tests on Genetic Toxicology Testing are part of a testing strategy which progresses to animal testing only if necessary (in the case of equivocal results).