Our work to promote the broadest use of available non-animal approaches in chemical safety assessments in Europe has been welcomed by the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA). 

A presentation by our Senior Chemicals Regulatory Advisor, Dr Charlie Stevenson, on behalf of four animal protection NGOs (Cruelty Free Europe, European Coalition to End Animal Experiments, Eurogroup for Animals and Humane World For Animals), highlighted ways in which improvements to chemicals testing guidance documents can ensure the widest possible use of non-animal approaches and that animal testing as a last resort is concretely upheld. 

We have offered to support ECHA in the improvement of guidance documents, and the processes surrounding this, which help manufacturers understand what information they need to provide to prove that their chemicals can be used safely in many household products, and, importantly, how they can generate this information.

Accessibility of these documents is currently poor, with updates to guidance scattered across ECHA’s website. In some cases, people who would need the guidance documents and their updates don’t even know they exist. In many cases, guidance is very out-of-date and there are areas where guidance is completely lacking, such as how adaptations to standard information requirements, often generated from tests on animals, can be used. 

Additionally, the EU’s Test Methods Regulation (TMR), which lists all approved test methods and approaches for meeting the requirements of the EU’s main chemicals regulation, REACH (Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals), is updated every year. Without a regular update schedule, key guidance documents have fallen critically out-of-date meaning that guidance on the use of the latest non-animal approaches to fulfil regulatory requirements is not available. We are hopeful that the OECD’s new Test Guidelines Explorer, a tool that Cruelty Free International provided funding for through ICAPO, will help ECHA to add timely updates to their REACH guidance documents.

Dr Stevenson said: “We recognise the limited resources which ECHA are working with, which are often a reason for vital information not being available or being shared widely enough. As such, we were pleased that ECHA received our suggestions for improvement warmly and constructively. The EU says that testing on animals should only be performed as a last resort, but too often animal testing continues simply because manufacturers are not aware of new non-animal tests and approaches that should be used instead. 

“Following our presentation, ECHA has promoted a crucial but little-known page on their website (OECD and EU Test Guidelines), which contains important, updated guidance on the use of non-animal approaches, in their weekly newsletter. We are committed to continuing our work to assist ECHA in how they can address gaps in and establish regular update procedures for their guidance documents in a timely manner.”