ANTARES is a project in the Life program of EU policy area chemicals. The challenge is to address the problem of defining the safety of chemical compounds using all the available knowledge and not relying only of animal tests. The action will be taken in Italy and then transferred in Germany. The partner ISS is the responsible in Italy of the application and evaluation of the REACH legislation, while Federchimica represents all the chemical Italian industry, responsible of producing data about the chemicals. The other partners are research institution called to make the assessment of methods.
These are the main objectives of the project ANTARES:

• to verify the possible use and performances of the non-testing methods (QSAR models, read across, in vitro) for REACH;
• to identify requirements and constraints originating from the REACH legislation which may affect the non-testing methods;
• to identify safety assessment factors for the non-testing methods;
• to integrate different non-testing methods, achieving superior performances;
• to promote non-testing methods for legislative purposes.

The challenge of the project is in transferring out of academic research a more comprehensive scientific vision in the process of safety assessment of chemical substances, and to make the public aware of the availability and results of methods alternative to the animal use. Communication for dissemination is an important aspect of the project, that will use a web portal as well as dedicated initiatives for the media, and seminars at the European Chemical Agency.
The project started in January 2010 and is under the responsibility of Italian “Ministero dell’ambiente” (http://www.minambiente.it/).