WRITTEN QUESTION E-1495/01

by Chris Davies (ELDR) to the Commission

(18 May 2001)

Subject: Animal testing and the Chemicals Strategy

In view of the fact that much public concern about the proposed Chemicals Strategy is focused on the very large number of animals which will suffer and die in order to carry out safety testing, how have the views of the Commission regarding the requirement for animal testing changed since its proposals were first published, and what steps is it now considering to reduce the number of animals required for testing purposes?

Answer given by Mrs Wallström on behalf of the Commission

(25 July 2001)

The Commission is indeed aware of the public concern over the use of laboratory animals for testing chemical products. This concern was reflected in the correspondence received during the preparation of the White Paper. However, the Commission was already committed, and remains committed, to promoting the welfare of laboratory animals, in particular through the provisions of Council Directive 86/609/EEC of 24 November 1986 on the approximation of laws, regulations and administrative provisions of the Member States regarding the protection of animals used for experimental and other scientific purposes(1). It is important to reduce the number of animals used in experiments, to replace animal experiments by non-animal methods and to refine experimental methods to reduce suffering is important in this respect.

It was against this background that the proposals in the White Paper were prepared. Indeed one of the political objectives of this paper was that Protection of human health and the environment, including wildlife, should be balanced against protection of the welfare of laboratory animals.

The following elements of the new strategy have been developed with a view to keeping animal testing to a minimum:

- existing information on the toxicity and ecotoxicity of substances, including epidemiological studies, will be taken into account,

- the general testing requirements will be modified to incorporate exposure-driven testing where appropriate,

- tailor-made testing programmes for substances will be developed under the control of authorities for level 1 and 2 testing,

- the development of further alternative testing methods using fewer or no animals will be encouraged and supported,

- existing substances will be grouped to minimise testing, where appropriate,

- for existing substances of between 1t and 10t annual production, testing will generally be limited to in-vitro methods.

Furthermore, a significant proportion of the chemicals are not for further examination until 2008-2012. By this time, new non-animal test methods are expected to be available as a result of the planned research programmes into the development and validation of such methods, which include, inter alia, the Commission's framework programmes for research, technological development and demonstration activities that have played, since 1985, an active role in funding research into the development of in-vitro alternatives to animal experiments for toxicological and pharmacological purposes. The European Centre for the Validation of Alternative Methods (ECVAM) will play an essential role in further developing this approach.

The Commission is far from complacent about this issue and is working on plans for the implementation of the above elements. In preparing these plans, the Commission will consider the comments received from all stakeholders during the consultation on the White Paper.

(1) OJ L 358, 18.12.1986.