On October 22, 2019, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) published a new report within its series on testing and assessment titled “Guiding Principles and Key Elements for Establishing a Weight of Evidence for Chemical Assessment.” The report provides “universal guiding principles” to be considered while developing or adapting systematic approaches to weight of evidence (WoE) for chemical assessment as well as key elements in “formulating a systematic approach to WoE.” The authors write that “the ultimate goal is to facilitate that regulators follow a consistent, clear and transparent delivery of evidence.”
Key principles the report recommends for WoE decision making include: developing a hypothesis with clear formulation of the problem to be addressed by the evidence, being systematic and comprehensive in design by using a step-wise procedure, including a treatment of uncertainty, considering the potential for bias, and being transparent through use of clear documentation. Key elements include problem formulation and then evidence collection, evaluation, weighting, and integration.
Reference
OECD (October 22, 2019). “Guiding Principles and Key Elements for Establishing a Weight of Evidence for Chemical Assessment, Series on Testing and Assessment No. 311.”
