Proposed EU Chemical safety screening plan unacceptable

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http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99992030

Chemical safety screening plan " unacceptable "

18:21 12 March 02

Laws proposed by the EU to screen thousands of chemicals for safety would

lead to " unacceptable mass animal testing " , according to an influential

House Of Lords Committee in the UK. According to the committee's report, it

would cost the lives of 12 million animals.

" Animal testing is the hot potato of all political hot potatoes, " says Lord

Crickhowell, Chairman of the Select Committee On The European Union. " We

think that there will be a huge increase in animal rights protests and it

will arouse such great hostility that it will be a major blockage on the

whole screening strategy. " Since 1981, all new chemicals have been screened

for safety. But very little data is available for chemicals first

manufactured before this date, even if they are still produced in vast

quantities. This has led the UK Government to say that it is " very concerned

that we do not have even a basic assessment of the possible risks of most

chemicals released into the environment. "

This concern is reflected across the EU, prompting the European Commission

to propose a testing regime for the estimated 30,000 chemicals first

marketed prior to 1981.

Non-animal alternatives

The proposals have been broadly welcomed by the environmental lobby. Animal

rights groups claim they have been wooed by the chemicals industry but have

rebuffed their advances, fearing the chemicals industry is trying to use

them to help water down the EU's proposals. Anti-vivisectionists are instead

viewing the EU's proposals as an opportunity to drive forward the search for

non-animal alternatives for safety testing.

" As the proposals stand, it will be the biggest mass poisoning programme in

history, involving up to 50 million animals, " claims Thew, Chief

Executive of the British Union for the Abolition of Vivisection.

" We do not oppose the testing of these chemicals but more reliable and

ethical alternatives have to be found. In many cases they are already

available, " she says.

The House Of Lords Committee agrees. Lord Crickhowell says: " The

Commission's White Paper provides a rare opportunity to generate the

political will within the EU to promote non-animal testing. Well-funded

programmes to develop alternative testing methods must now be at the top of

the agenda. "

The European Commission is expected to finish drafting the legislation and

present it to the EU Parliament in the summer of 2002. The Parliament is

likely to insist that vivisection should only be used as a last resort.

Danny Penman