Support Non-Animal Testing for Medical Progress

Europe: REACH must defend our Environment from toxins

tonygal001 | 11 July, 2008 13:23

European Citizens

1st of June 2008 was an important day for the New European Chemical Testing Policy called REACH (Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation & restriction of CHemicals). In Helsinki, Finland, the European Chemicals Agency which manages the implementation of this legislation started the process of pre-registration of existing substances. Before 1981 in Europe chemicals were put on the market without being safety tested. REACH aims to test about 30,000 substances used in quantities of over 1 tonne a year but still depends significantly on animal testing. When you consider the technological advances that have been made in recent years and that many animal tests have remained unchanged for over 60 years this may not be good enough.

The European Commission estimated that Reach will cost industry between 2.8bn and 5.2bn euros over 11 years. This will be an inefficient use of resources if reliance is on outdated animal testing instead of making the most of new technological advances. Many alternatives exist which are quicker, cheaper and more reliable than animal tests. However, for these to be trusted and validated takes investment and a commitment to make medical progress a priority. REACH must make sure that all chemicals are tested with the most accurate and trustworthy methods and new techniques must be developed if only animal testing is available. Validated alternatives are considered at least the equal of animal tests but the European Commission's list of approved methods does not include non-animal techniques that were approved for scientific validity in 2007 by the European Centre for the Validation of Alternative Methods ( ECVAM ) . This is a delay which has been criticised by the MEPs of the European parliament because it will encourage companies to avoid using validated human based alternatives and continue using animal tests instead. ECVAM does important work but if they are to achieve what we all want - a comprehensive system of scientific tests to accurately find and eliminate all toxic chemicals from the environment - they must be given the support and resources they need.

Companies in each country of Europe required to satisfy the REACH regulations need to submit safety data on the chemicals they use. Citizens of Europe can make a difference in their own countries by writing or emailing their national politicians and asking them to support the use of validated alternatives as a legal requirement for the testing of these substances.

For UK Citizens, action can be taken to help improve the quality of testing of some of these chemicals. Many of these toxic chemicals are used in household products. Safeguarding our health and environment includes testing these with modern methods we can trust. Early Day Motion 1215 asks the British Government to take measures to prevent the testing of household products and their ingredients on animals. For these chemicals testing will only be by validated non-animal methods based on human biology. Ideally about 200 MP signatures are needed if this is to be influential.

If you want to read EDM 1215 or see who has signed go to http://edmi.parliament.uk

Started in 2003, the Humane Household Product Standard (HHPS) is the only international scheme which guarantees a product has not been animal tested because companies need to provide proof. With Its own logo, it enables consumers to easily identify products that have not been tested on animals.

To learn more about the HHPS go to http://www.gocrueltyfree.org/

The RSPCA have endorsed a petition, "Take Action", which asks the British government to work towards ending the use of animals in experiments by replacing them with humane alternatives.

Please sign this RSPCA petition at http://www.rspca.org.uk/

(In the current campaigns section)

For more information visit:-

http://ec.europa.eu/environment/

http://www.eceae.org

Thank You

Tony