Commentary on ‘‘Toxicity Testing in the 21st Century: A vision and a Strategy’’

Abstract

The report of the National Academy of Sciences entitled ‘Toxicity Testing in the 21st Century: A Vision and a Strategy,’ hereinafter referred to as ‘The Report,’ is more of a vision than of a strategy. The present article addresses three observations made on The Report; namely, dose response, PBPK modeling, and in vitro testing. An additional observation this author has of the document is that a role for a scientist who can analyze the big picture is missing from the document. Science today is necessarily composed of specialists in many areas because science today encompasses many diverse, specific fields. Each specialist is in a world of his or her own and unable to integrate all the facts. Must we wait for another Newton or Einstein?