1. The chairman, Dr. G. Krinke, Basel, opened the general meeting and welcomed those present.
   
   
2. The minutes of the last general meeting were accepted unanimously.
   
   
3. The chairman's report was distributed to the members and accepted.
   A period of silence was held in memory of Prof. Dr. Gerd Reznik, who died suddenly at Christmastime 1998.
   
   
4. Dr. Lenz, Basel, gave the treasurer's report. She pointed out that every member must pay the full annual dues of DM 110 to the GTP account, and that transfer and exchange fees should be paid by the members and not by the GTP. Dr. Brander, Basel, and Dr. Heinrichs, Hattersheim, checked the society's treasury on September 14, 1999. They found it to be in good order and therefore moved that the activities of the GTP executive committee be approved.
   The general meeting voted to accept this motion.
   
   
5. The annual membership dues will continue to be DM 110.
   
   
6. Dr. Tuch, Hamburg, reported on the activities of the Membership Committee: New full members are Dr. Volker Geiss, Dr. Nils Krueger, Dr. Geeta Nirody, Dr. Elke Persohn, Dr. Edgar Weber, and Dr. Britta Wenck. Dr. Ute Bach is a new associate member.
   The chairman pointed out that the GTP executive committee is entitled to accept associate members. Full membership can only be awarded when the application has been accepted at the general meeting.
   On the previous day Prof. Dr. Franz Hartig, formerly of Boehringer Mannheim, had been elected honorary member by the assembly with hearty general approval. The document was presented to him during the social evening of the Giessen convention by the chairman, Dr. G. Krinke.
   
   
7. Dr. Deschl, Wuppertal gave the report of the Awards Committee. The 1999 winner is Dr. Rinke, Wuppertal, with his works on rat kidney lesions due to a serotonin agonist and on the pathology of the mini-pig.
   The criteria for award candidates, especially the previous age limit of 40 years, make it difficult to find suitable candidates. For this reason, at the next general meeting in the year 2000, new criteria should be decided upon.
   
   
8. Prof. Reinacher, Giessen, reported on the activities of the Education Committee. Its members were Dr. Deschl, Dr. Heinrichs, Dr. Mengs, Dr. Sander, Dr. Schmidts, Dr. Teredesai, and Dr. Wöhrmann. One meeting each was held in Giessen, Wuppertal, and Cologne. Evaluation sheets on the slide seminar were distributed in the meeting room. Suggestions and criticisms are to be considered in a subsequent meeting of the Education Committee, in order to make future improvements.
   
   
9. The allotment of groups for the various sequential annual Education Subcommittees was revised. The responses on the GTP evaluation sheets distributed to all GTP members in July 1999 were instrumental in this reapportionment. Three groups are envisaged:
   
   Northern Group: Asta, Bayer, Byk-Gulden, Fraunhofer Institute, Schering, TiHo Hannover, University of Berlin, and University of Leipzig
   
   Southern Group: Boehringer-Ingelheim, EPS/RCC, Hoffmann-La Roche, Nestle, Novartis, and University of Zurich
   
   Western Group: BASF, Grünenthal, HMR, INBIFO, Knoll, Merck, and University of Giessen.
   
   The majority of the assembly agreed with this reapportionment.
   
   
10. The following members were nominated for the Education Committee 2000 (northern group) for the joint meeting with the European Society of Veterinary Pathology (ESVP) in September 2000 in Amsterdam:
    Dr. Harleman, Basel, (chair), Dr. Deschl, Wuppertal, Prof. Drommer, Hannover, Dr. Ernst, Berlin, Dr. Ernst, Hannover, Dr. Nolte, Halle/Westfalen, Prof. Rudolph, Berlin, Prof. Schonen, Leipzig, and Dr. Tuch, Hamburg.
    
    
11. The GTP chairman remains in contact with other Societies of Toxicologic Pathology in Europe. The merging of all European societies would not appear appropriate at the present time, however, invitations should be extended to our seminars, especially if held in English, as is the next one in Amsterdam.
    
    
12. It was decided to wait until the meeting in Amsterdam in September 2000 to make resolutions concerning preparations for the meeting in 2001 (southern group).
    
    
13. Prof. Karbe, Wülfrath, reported on the activities of the IFSTP. He emphasized the need to name a new IFSTP councillor following the death of Prof. Reznik. Dr. Germann, Basel, as sole nominee, was chosen unanimously and accepted the task. Representing Dr. Ettlin, Basel, co-chair of the organizing committee, Prof. Karbe explained the tentative scientific program of the IFSTP/STP Conference in Orlando, Florida, on June 24-28, 2001. Likely topics of the 7 symposia are:
    
    • Impact of genetic engineering on toxicologic pathology
      1) Use of genetically modified animals
      2) Safety assessment of genetically modified food
      
    • Risk assessment – a key task of toxicologic pathologists
      3) Adverse effects vs. treatment-related non-adverse effects
      
    • Evolving methods for the practice of toxicologic pathology
      4) International harmonization and nomenclature
      5) Historical control animal data bases
      6) Quantitative toxicologic pathology – methods and interpretation
      7) Clinical pathology in the new century.
      
    
    Suggestions for speakers should be addressed to Dr. Ettlin. Pending further input from other national societies and from chairpersons, some additional changes of the scientific program are likely to occur.
    
    The IFSTP has created an International Academy of Toxicologic Pathology (IATP) with the objective of recognizing experienced scientists on the basis of education and professional achievements in toxicologic pathology by offering a fellowship. No examination is required, since certification as a Fellow will be based on criteria. They were explained by Prof. Karbe and are available through him. It is planned to process applications starting next year. Applications should be evaluated by members of the IFSTP accreditation committee familiar with various regional and international education systems.
    
    Three candidates for the IFSTP accreditation committee were proposed and elected: Dr. Harleman, Basel, Prof. Karbe, Wülfrath, and Dr. Sander, Wuppertal.
    
    Dues to be paid by the Fellows are scheduled to be determined by the end of this year.
    
    
14. Dr. Harleman reported that the European Council of Toxicologic Pathology (ECTP) met in Nantes at the ESVP Meeting in September. The registry of the ECTP is planned to start in 2000, pending final approval of the European sister societies. These will be invited to actively participate at the next meeting in Amsterdam. Further joint meetings could open the way for a European tox-path meeting in addition to the various regional meetings.
    
    
15. The Certification Committee reported that the German medical chambers are presently making no effort to create a special professional certificate in "Toxico-Pathology", since medical certificates in general are to be reorganized. Dr. Sander will continue to monitor developments for the GTP.
    
    
16. RITA and CEPA activities: members are reminded about the international harmonization of rat nomenclature displayed on the Internet: www.item.fraunhofer.de/reni/rat_nomenclature/. CEPA (Cell Proliferation and Apoptosis) can be reached at: www.item.fraunhofer.de/reni/public/cepa/.
    
    Dr. Deschl presented the activities being carried out to create a GTP homepage with newsletters in the Internet. An offer from a company in Monheim, negotiated by Dr. Pitterman, was shown with different examples of what a Web site could look like. However, the majority of the members favored the second proposal worked out by Gerd Morawietz (Fraunhofer ITA) and Dr. Deschl, which very specifically included GTP-related structures and was, in addition, less expensive. The experience of the Fraunhofer ITA group with Gerd Morawietz in setting up and maintaining the RITA Web site for years was also appreciated. Therefore the decision was made to have a GTP homepage in the near future and to accept the offer of the Fraunhofer ITA group.
    
    A GTP Internet committee was formed, with Dr. Deschl, Dr. Pittermann, and Dr. Püschner as members. They were asked to supervise the GTP homepage and, in conjunction with it, design a suitable logo and letterhead.
    
    
17. The use of our official journal Exp Toxic Pathol for the publication of manuscripts and for advertising was recommended.
    
    Prof. Drommer and Prof. Karbe have organized the GTP/TiHo slide seminar "Classic Examples in Toxicologic Pathology VII", to be held on February 18th + 19th 2000 in Hannover. The program was shown, will be published in issue 6 (1999) of our journal, and is available through the organizers.

The chairman thanked the members for their participation in the activities of the many committees and closed the meeting after 2 hours and 15 minutes.

Chairman
Dr. Georg Krinke

Secretary
Dr. Hubert Püschner