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The full details of the Demetra activities are reported in the book:
QUANTITATIVE STRUCTURE-ACTIVITY RELATIONSHIPS (QSAR) FOR PESTICIDE REGULATORY PURPOSES
Ed. Emilio Benfenati. Elsevier, Amsterdam. In press.
The adoption of (Quantitative) Structure-Activity Relationships ((Q)SARs) methods provides an alternative to animal testing. (Q)SAR estimates can help identify compounds of potential concern during the preliminary stage of risk assessment, thereby reducing direct costs and unnecessary animal testing. Despite encouragement by the current EU and USA chemical legislations, use of (Q)SAR has not yet been adequately integrated in the pesticide regulatory framework, and still waits for wide acceptance among regulators.
This book presents and describes the EU-funded project DEMETRA, an innovative attempt aimed at placing the current (Q)SAR dimension closer to the regulatory one. In agreement with the EU directive on pesticides 91/414, in-silico models for pesticide toxicity prediction against five endpoints were developed and made freely available. The book's chapters cover all aspects of DEMETRA: current pesticide legislation, selection of data, model building procedures, validation and quality criteria of the models developed, including their use and appropriateness. Special attention has been paid to the future perspectives and the potential end-users: regulatory bodies, industries, non-governmental organizations, and researchers.
The authors, project participants and subcontractors, come from different institutions and enterprises known at international level. Their individual contributions in the fields of chemistry, biology, informatics, toxicology, and pesticide legislation, make the book a meaningful example of (Q)SAR solutions to real-world problems.
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