Overview

ICCA LRI Research Portfolio

Since 1999, the International Council of Chemical Associations’ (ICCA) Long-Range Research Initiative (LRI) has supported high quality scientific research to address the demands of decision makers and the public to better understand the potential impact of chemicals on human health and the environment. The ICCA-LRI is a global program implemented through three regional member organizations – the European Chemical Industry Council (Cefic), the American Chemistry Council (ACC), and the Japan Chemical Industry Association (JCIA). These three regional LRI research programs support complementary areas of research that target the science-policy interface to improve chemical safety and reduce uncertainty.

Click here to browse a list of LRI projects across Cefic, ACC, and JCIA

The ICCA-LRI has identified the following priority research areas:

  • Innovating Chemical Testing

    • LRI research develops tools and approaches that can reduce chemical testing costs, time, and animal use as well as facilitate meeting regulatory data requirements. These tools also have the potential to expedite design of new materials, products, and chemical solutions.

  • Understanding Everyday Exposures to Chemicals

    • LRI exposure research can provide the critical information link for appropriately assessing the potential health and environmental risks from chemicals; this approach can decrease the likelihood of decisions based on hazard data alone. Predictive models offer potential resources to efficiently and cost-effectively generate estimates for consumer exposures and to address current exposure data gaps for the majority of chemicals in commerce

  • Translating Research Outcomes for Product Safety

    • LRI research represents industry’s commitment to advance chemical safety assessment and to increase consumer confidence that new and existing products are safe for their intended use. Increasing consumer confidence can lead to greater acceptance of innovation from the chemical industry.

The three LRI regional programs each support research projects within the priority research areas. These priority areas, which by design are interrelated and interdisciplinary, provide an overall structure for the global LRI program. However, the specific projects funded within these areas can vary from region to region and from year to year depending on industry priorities, financial resources, and other drivers. A clear advantage of this research diversity among the LRI regions is that it adds both depth and texture to the overall LRI research program.

The following matrix table describes specific research topic areas within each of the regional programs that highlight this diversity within the three priority areas.

    • Understand information at the molecular level to assess health and environmental impacts

    • Support the 3Rs with a focus on replacement and reducing animal testing

    • Integrate exposure and dose information to advance interpretation of data from high-throughput assays

    • Advance application of cell-based testing systems for chemical safety assessments

    • Develop alternative test methods and prediction models for toxicities based on AOP (Adverse Outcome Pathway)

    • Advance approaches for evaluating health impacts on potentially vulnerable groups such as infants and children

    • Evaluate effects of cumulative and aggregate exposures in real life scenarios

    • Develop predictive exposure models that incorporate environmental stressors

    • Facilitate data collection and development of predictive fit-for-purpose models for estimating consumer exposures

    • Improve methods to predict metabolism so this information can inform risk-based decision making

    • Develop methods for exposure assessment of chemicals via the environment

    • Evaluate effects of combined exposure to chemicals

    • Apply new concepts enhancing ecological relevance of risk assessment

    • Reduce complexity and robustly predict health effects using pragmatic approaches

    • Advance new approaches to evaluate modes of action to strengthen the scientific basis of risk assessments

    • Develop an innovative tiered testing and evaluation framework that integrates multiple data streams and facilitates chemical safety assessment for regulatory purposes

    • Evaluate the safety of chemicals with new properties, such as nanomaterials, for future technological developments

    • Assess the effects of chemical products on ecosystems and the environment

Japan Chemical Industry Association

American Chemistry Council

The European Chemical Industry Council