The EU Commission has presented a roadmap towards phasing out animal testing for chemical safety assessments, laying out tangible steps to ensure the transition to innovative non-animal approaches.
The roadmap will also preserve the integrity of safety evaluations, says the EU executive, to ensure a high level of protection for human and animal health and the environment.
Chemical safety assessments help ensure products placed on the market are safe, but they still rely largely on animal testing. New alternative methods are enabling a gradual shift away from animal tests, offering faster, more cost-efficient and innovation-friendly solutions for industry.
With 22 actions, the roadmap envisages gradually replacing animal testing for chemical safety assessments in 15 domains, including chemicals for industrial and consumer uses, pesticides and biocides, pharmaceuticals, and food and feed additives. The roadmap sets out indicators that will help to monitor progress in the implementation of the actions and recommendations.
“The publication of this roadmap marks a pivotal step towards modernising chemical safety assessments while reinforcing Europe’s leadership in innovation”, said EC executive vice-president Stéphane Séjourné: “By phasing out animal testing, we are not only upholding higher ethical standards but also strengthening our competitiveness through cutting-edge, non-animal alternative technologies.”
The first pillar focuses on making change happen towards phasing out animal use. Actions under this pillar aim to accelerate the development and uptake of non-animal approaches. Over 30 targeted recommendations to replace, reduce or refine animal testing for human health and environmental safety assessments are outlined in this pillar.
The objective of the second pillar is to keep Europe at the forefront of research and innovation. Actions under this pillar aim to support a broad ecosystem of research and business innovation to develop non-animal approaches. The actions include leveraging artificial intelligence and big data sets for method development.
The third pillar is about working together in Europe and beyond. Actions under this pillar include putting in place a framework to facilitate implementation with all relevant stakeholders in the EU and to foster collaboration with regulators at international level.
The Commission will now begin to implement the roadmap, in close collaboration with the EU Member States, EU agencies and stakeholders. By 2029, the Commission says it will organise a high-level conference to take stock of progress. The conference will focus on the increased use and uptake of non-animal approaches in all relevant EU legislation, including REACH. It will include consulting stakeholders on the way forward.
Roadmap towards phasing out animal testing for chemical safety assessments
