Foreword: Congress on Alternative Test Methods in Inhalation Toxicology

In May 2007, the Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR) organized and hosted the Congress on "Alternative Test Methods in Inhalation Toxicology" in Berlin, since the BfR is involved in health assessment of airborne chemical substances and (nano-) particles derived from consumer products.Traditional methods in inhalational toxicology are relatively costly, requiring large numbers of animals and are not very reliable. The BfR is, therefore, highly interested in the development of new methods, which are easy to perform, producing relevant data with the use of as few animals as possible.Finally, these efforts should result in the implementation of such methods into a worldwide accepted OECD testing guideline. The BfR Congress in 2007 was an important step towards achieving this goal.