AltTox.org reached its first anniversary last month. We are proud of our usage statistics to date. The website currently receives about 4,000 visits per month. Forum messages have been read nearly 300,000 times, and over 1,400 users currently receive the monthly e-newsletter. Forty-two Way Forward commentaries from invited experts have been published, the most popular having been accessed over 700 times. All in all, not bad for a website devoted exclusively to non-animal methods of toxicity testing and directed toward a niche audience of stakeholders in industry, government, academia, and non-governmental organizations.
The one-year mark is perhaps a good time to survey AltTox's features, both as a review for dedicated users and as an introduction for newcomers.
There are two main sections in the design of the website: the Toxicity Testing Resource Center (TTRC), with information organized in a conventional website format, and the AltTox Forums, which feature interactive message boards.
The TTRC is the place to go for scientific, technical, and policy information on various aspects of non-animal toxicity testing, from testing services, organizations, and events to regulations, toxicity test methods, emerging technologies, and validated alternative methods. You'll find concisely summarized information relevant to all aspects of advancing in vitro and in silico methods of toxicity testing.
The AltTox Forums are the place to go if you are interested in reading or posting messages to message boards. For convenience, the titles of the three most recent forum messages are listed on the AltTox Homepage.
The Homepage links to the Forums and the TTRC, and also features the following sections:
- About AltTox: provides a short overview of the website.
- Get Involved: describes the many ways that users can access content, submit content, participate in the interactive forums, spread the word about AltTox, or provide feedback. In addition, organizations are invited to support AltTox financially.
- In the Spotlight: contains two new articles per month, highlighting topics relevant to the field of non-animal toxicity testing, including news, events, scientific advancements, and information about the AltTox website. In the Spotlight Archives now contain 23 such articles.
- Homepage e-mail sign up box: allows readers to subscribe to our monthly e-newsletter, which highlights new content that has been added during the previous month.
- Meetings & Events: a comprehensive list of events and grant deadlines relevant to non-animal methods. Please submit your events for free listing to info@alttox.org.
We'd like to call special attention to three of the many sections of the TTRC, namely:
- The Way Forward: a series of invited commentaries written by scientific and policy experts to provide the latest perspectives on strategies and approaches for moving toward the ultimate goal of a completely non-animal approach to toxicity testing.
- Existing Alternatives: an accessible list of validated non-animal toxicity test methods.
- Informational Resources: a unique collection of resources, including: journals, websites, databases, training, testing supplies and services, funding sources, and 3Rs awards, provided to assist AltTox users in locating relevant information.
The AltTox Forums, the interactive portion of AltTox, provide a unique opportunity for stakeholders in the field of toxicity testing to share knowledge and exchange ideas on the development and use of non-animal methods. Interested professionals are invited to register in the forums and either initiate a new topic or reply to an existing message. Registration is not required for reading the forum postings.
There are four categories of message boards on AltTox: Toxicity Endpoints & Tests, Emerging Technologies, Programs & Policies, and Overarching Challenges & Opportunities. To date, the forums serve primarily as bulletin boards for alerting readers to conferences, publications, program documents, and the like, but also can function as discussion platforms for posting questions or perspectives and calling for feedback. Each forum is moderated by an expert in the field.
Many people are unfamiliar with posting messages in online forums. To address this problem, step-by-step instructions for registering and using the forums are provided. Another useful feature is the "alert" function, which allows forum participants to sign up to receive e-mail alerts of new topics or of replies to specific topics within a forum.
A new communication tool, Community of Practice forums, is a recent addition. The Community of Practice forums are intended to operate as centers for discussion and information exchange among working groups, consortia, dialogue groups, committees, panels, etc. tasked with working through a specific challenge that will advance non-animal testing methods. Members of these groups can go to the forum to post the latest draft of a working document or be updated on the most recent activity related to a specific topic. Because the new forums are open to viewing and participation by the larger AltTox readership, they give visibility and transparency to a project, engaging stakeholders that may not otherwise be aware of ongoing work.
To date, AltTox features two Community of Practice forums: DNT (Developmental NeuroToxicity), and Chemical Reactivity-ChemReactTox (electrophilic reactivity related to skin sensitization and other types of toxicity testing). The AltTox Management Team welcomes proposals to establish new Community of Practice forums.
There are three ways to locate information on AltTox:
- Browse using the links along the top and sides of the webpages, or use the "breadcrumbs" navigation links found just above the title of each content page (for example: Home > Toxicity Testing Resource Center > Existing Alternatives).
- Type the information you are looking for into the Search box found in the upper right corner of each page.
- Look over the Sitemap for a relevant link (Sitemap link is a footer).
AltTox currently is supported through a collaboration of the Procter & Gamble Company (P&G) and The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS). To encourage objectivity, the website content is overseen by an editorial board of distinguished subject matter experts. The Management Team is seeking additional sponsors.
Please Get Involved - the success of AltTox depends upon your participation!
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