Evolution and coordination of the alternative methods in Spain

The present work is the introductory contribution to the workshop on ‘Alternative methods for toxicity assessment’ held during the 2nd Iberian Congress of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology University of the Basque Country, Leioa, June 1998.. Other contributions presented at the workshop are reported by Casta˜no et al., Repetto et al. and Prieto in this volume. In this introductory contribution we have highlighted the different initiatives brought about in Spain to coordinate the studies about alternative methods for toxicity assessment. The first initiative was the meeting of the ICLASrCSIC Working Group on Complementary Methods, held in Talavera de la Reina in 1995. A list of validated methods was published in a monograph as a result of the meeting. Recently a Spanish net has been established for the development of alternative methods Spanish Network for the Development of Alternative Methods or Red Espa˜nola para el Desarrollo de M´etodos Alternativos, REMA.. The first meeting for the Constitution of REMA will be held in December 1999 in Madrid. The REMA, as organising entity, consists of scientific and industrial societies or industrial associations, as well as observers from the Administration, and encourages the participation of all those interested on an individual basis.