Director's DiaryBy Dr. Alan M. Goldberg, Ph.D. Throughout the history of CAAT, our mission has been to try to promote the use of alternatives whenever possible. We have accomplished this through direct support, as in our grant programs, and indirectly, through our communication programs and meetings. Early in our development, we relied on small workshops on topics of importance to communicate important information to our colleagues. Later, as CAAT grew larger, we were able to organize larger meetings and to focus on issues of equal concern to scientists, regulators, and animal welfare representives. Those efforts culminated in two world congresses and--closer to home--many new programs at CAAT, including the launch of Altweb, the very Web site on which you find this newsletter. In November, after 16 years of successes, the CAAT Advisory Board examined and restated our mission. Within that statement is the following goal: to "serve as a forum to foster discussion among diverse groups leading to creative approaches to facilitate acceptance and implementation of alternatives." The Vision 20/20 project described in this newsletter is nothing more, or less, than the implementation of that statement. We invited an amazingly diverse group to come and consider what it would take to make the Three Rs a reality. They came, and their willingness to sit at the same table with one another and explore common ground was a major indicator that Vision 20/20 is on to something important. Something that has the potential to effect real change. Now we are inviting them to join CAAT as we get down to the serious work of planning approaches for implementing their ideas. It is one thing to say we need new endpoints for toxicity or drug discovery; it is quite another to begin the process of developing them. We invite you to join us as well. If we are to accomplish any of the goals outlined by this gathering, it will take the resources and commitment of an ever larger and more diverse group. | 
