AR-News: (EU)) Animal testing for EU chemical safety creates 'Regulatory S mokescreen'

[AR-News]

> 	Major new BUAV report says animal testing for EU chemical safety
> creates 'Regulatory Smokescreen'
> 
> 	A major new report has been published today by leading animal
> campaigners, the British Union for the Abolition of Vivisection (BUAV), as
> part of their campaign to halt the poisoning of millions of laboratory
> animals for the proposed EU Chemicals Policy.  The new BUAV report,
> 'Chemical Safety and Animal Testing: a Regulatory Smokescreen?' is
> authored by Dr Gill Langley MA, PhD (Cantab), MIBiol, Cbiol. 
> 
> 	The report's publication comes at the eve of discussions by the
> Council of Ministers in Brussels on the European Commission's proposal for
> a new regulatory framework for chemicals (REACH).  If left unchallenged,
> the proposal will bring about a massive increase in the use of cruel and
> unreliable animal toxicity tests. The BUAV argues that if Ministers back
> radical proposals to accelerate the development and validation of more
> non-animal tests, chemicals regulation will not only be more humane, but
> also more reliable, relevant, faster and cheaper.   
> 
> 	Caroline Lucas, Green Party MEP, says:
> 	"I welcome this latest BUAV report as a valuable contribution to
> this vital debate. It demonstrates clearly how misleading animal tests
> have been to past chemicals regulation, how ineffective animal testing is
> as a monitor of environmental or human safety and how urgently we need to
> switch to a more modern, reliable, non-animal approach. We now have a real
> window of opportunity because the provisions of the EU Policy will not
> come into force for a number of years, so there is no excuse for not
> investing very heavily in non-animal testing methods."   
> 
> 	Emily McIvor, BUAV's EU Political Co-ordinator, says:
> 	"Animal tests are not the answer.  Many chemicals used in everyday
> products have been tested extensively on animals, but the test data
> produced has not been relevant or reliable enough for regulators to
> control the substance.  Far from being a solution to the chemicals crisis,
> animal tests are actually part of the problem. Regulators and politicians,
> must wake up to the fact that repeating the animal test mistakes of the
> past will not protect us from harmful chemicals."
> 
> 	The BUAV's report demonstrates how the scientific weakness of animal
> toxicity testing can delay or even prevent regulatory action on dangerous
> chemicals.  The cases of asbestos, tributyl tin, brominated flame
> retardants, bisphenol A and other substances are used. The BUAV calls for
> an end to animal testing and instead the introduction of a non-animal test
> strategy combined with programmes for monitoring environmental and human
> exposures to chemicals.  The precautionary principle, coupled with
> information on exposure and toxicity would lead to a safer, faster and
> more humane regulatory system.
> 
> 	Go to www.buav.org and click the top item on Latest News to download
> the following PDFs:
> 	1. The BUAV's latest report "Chemical Safety and Animal Testing: a
> Regulatory Smokescreen" published 2004 
> 	2. The first part of the BUAV's original non-animal testing strategy
> document "The Way Forward: strategy for a future chemicals policy"
> published 2001
> 	3. The second part of the BUAV's original non-animal testing
> strategy document "The Way Forward: action to end animal toxicity testing"
> published 2001
> 
> 	ENDS 
>