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Chemical substances added for various purposes to the feeds of farm-reared animals may enter the body of these animals. This may lead to the persistence, in food offered for human consumption, of residues which may be potentially toxic under conditions of repeated absorption over the greater part of the life span. The evaluation of the safety of these residues for man poses complex problems. Their ideal solution demands very often a number of careful experiments. The methodology called "toxicity by relay" consists essentially of the submission of the animal feed itself, which is likely to contain a mosaic of residues, to long-term testing in laboratory animals. Provided a satisfactory safety factor can be applied, this methodology can contribute information permittinga conclusion regarding the acceptablity, even provisionally, of the feed additive for the use which is envisaged. In addition this methodology enables the provision of results constituting a criterion for the rejection of the additive under test. For these reasons it appears to us an appropriate procedure, taking its place among the tests to be undertaken for the toxicological evaluation of additves to the feeds of farm-reared animals.