URGENT ACTION: Tens of Millions of Animals at Risk - Important Vote on Massive Animal-Testing Plan Coming Up.

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* VERY IMPORTANT - TAKE ACTION *

 

www.StopEUChemicalTests.com www.StopAnimalTests.com

 

Tens of Millions of Animals at Risk

Important Vote on Massive Animal-Testing Plan Coming Up

 

 

On October 4, members of the European Parliament’s Committee on Environment, Public Health and Food Safety will vote on an important piece of legislation known as REACH (Registration, Evaluation and Authorisation of Chemicals). REACH intends to regulate toxic chemicals and protect human health and the environment from dangerous chemicals. However, it also has the potential to dramatically increase the number of animals killed in toxicity tests, reversing all previous trends of decreased animal usage.Fortunately, Caroline Lucas, Green Party MEP for South East England, is campaigning to incorporate a non-animal testing programme into the REACH legislation. Her proposal, which can be viewed at www.reachnonanimaltests.org , aims to replace all proposed animal tests with non-animal test methods.Ms Lucas states, “By writing to your MEP and urging [him or her] to support any non-animal testing amendments to REACH, you can play a vital role in preventing an estimated extra 1,500 animal tests per high-production toxic chemical. These tests will involve force-feeding toxic substances to animals over weeks and years and, like all animal tests, are scientifically unreliable because of the difficulties extrapolating results from animals to people and from laboratory to real life exposure”.It is becoming obvious to everyone that relying on outdated, cruel and irrelevant animal tests does not serve the current need to regulate hazardous chemicals and stands in the way of real progress. Please contact your MEPs who sit on this committee immediately and politely urge them to vote to incorporate all of MEP Lucas’ amendments to annexes V–VIII of REACH. Let your MEP know that all non-animal test methods that are currently available must be incorporated and, in cases where they are not currently available, funding must be increased for their development and implementation, rather than resorting to the non-validated animal tests. Without these amendments, REACH must be opposed because the great strides made in reducing the number of animals killed in toxicity testing in Europe will otherwise be lost, and tens of millions of animals will die.

Contact information for the MEPs who sit on the Environment Committee can be found at http://www.europarl.eu.int/activities/expert/committees/allMembers.do?committee=1239. Please contact the ones from your country.

We need as many European voices as possible to speak up for animals. Please send this e-mail to your friends, family, colleagues and anyone else you can think of who may respond.

Thank you,

Troy Seidle Director of Science Policy People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals www.StopEUChemicalTests.com www.StopAnimalTests.com