What is the origin of the terms 'alternative methods' - 'Non Animal Methods' - 'New Approach Methodologies'?
The term "alternative methods" is often associated with the 3R principle. A few years ago, there was an international trend to refer to test methods that do not use vertebrates as ‘Non Animal Methods’. Similarly to 'alternative methods to animal testing', the term 'Non Animal Methods' was mainly used in the field of toxicology and in particular for regulatory applications. However, due to the rapid increase in the number of new methods in biomedical research (e.g. development of organoids), there was a need for a definition that reaches beyond the domain of (regulatory) toxicology. More recently, the abbreviation NAM is therefore increasingly defined as 'New Approach Methodologies' instead of 'Non Animal Methods'. Nevertheless, until today, the three terms are still used interchangeably. As the RE-Place project specifically also aims to collect methods from biomedical research, the term 'New Approach Methodologies' will be mainly used throughout the website.
