Malaysia has joined the OECD system for the Mutual Acceptance of Data (MAD) for assessing chemicals and chemical products. The move will ensure all non-clinical safety data related to the protection of the environment and human health will now be accepted by the 40 countries adhering to the MAD system. At present, all 34 OECD countries as well as Argentina, Brazil, India, Malaysia, Singapore and South Africa adhere to the system. Thailand is also set to rank amongst the member states and is currently a provisional adherent to the system.
The MAD system allows all member states to share data generated from non-clinical testing of chemicals and chemical products. The goal of this system is to increase global economic efficiency of chemicals testing by reducing redundancy due to duplication of experimental data. The system has saved 150 million euros annually highlighting it's inherent financial benefits afforded to member states. According to OECD secretary general Angel Gurria “Governments participating in the MAD system have confidence that chemical safety test data generated in other countries is of high quality and can be used for regulatory assessments. This reduces duplicative testing, saves laboratory costs, promotes work-sharing by countries assessing the same data and removes a potential non-tariff trade barrier.”
To qualify for inclusion in the MAD system member states are initially subject to a phase in period. During this period the prospective member state in cooperation with other OECD countries ensure that all GLP facilities and compliance measures fulfill the required quality criteria. Participation in the MAD system requires that testing be carried out using OECD standards for test methods (OECD Test Guidelines) and data quality (OECD Principles of Good Laboratory Practice). Throughout this initial probationary period the interaction is unilateral with prospective members required to accept all non-clinical data for chemicals and chemical products but member states unable to mutually benefit.
