WELCOME:

The Johns Hopkins Center for Alternatives to Animal Testing

Voice of: Dr. Alan M. Goldberg, Director of CAAT.

CAAT was founded in 1981 to develop alternatives to the use of whole animals for product development and safety testing. Alternatives are methods that replace, reduce or refine animal use in education, research and testing. The history of alternatives development and of the Center is based on the evolution of the three R's (replacement, reduction and refinement).

Although CAAT's mission focuses primarily on the development of alternatives for testing, the Center also works with organizations seeking to implement the 3 R's in research and education. These other resources are located throughout the world, primarily in North America, Europe, Australia and Japan. On-line resources include the very extensive NET VET server at Washington University in St. Louis and the University of California Center for Animal Alternatives (UC-CAA) at Davis.

Based in the School of Hygiene and Public Health at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, CAAT is an academic research center whose programs encompass laboratory research, education/information and validation of alternative methodologies. CAAT's primary outreach to scientific and lay audiences is the Center for Alternatives to Animal Testing newsletter, which is published three times a year (archived). The newsletter is free to subscribers in North America. Overseas readers are asked to pay an annual subscription fee of $30 to cover mailing costs.