During the next Plenary session in the middle of September, MEPs will cast their vote on an important text for the future of the 10 millions laboratory animals used yearly in the EU. The Motion for a resolution calls for an Action Plan to facilitate the transition to innovation without the use of animals in research, regulatory testing and education.
The leader of three EU-funded projects whose common objective is to advance the safety assessment of chemical without the use of animal testing – namely PrecisionTox , ONTOX and RISK-HUNT3R – addressed a joint letter to the MEPs to support this initiative. Animal testing is too long to enable the safety assessment of the growing number of chemicals whose toxicity is still unknown. Faster, more ethical solutions relying on breaking-through technologies such as organ-on-chips and computer modeling already exist to replace animal testing. Refering to the EU Green deal and to the Chemical Strategy for Sustainability – towards a toxic-free Environment which will lead to significant revision of the EU legislative framework (for instance the REACH Regulation), the coordinators state “The Motion for Resolution of the European Parliament is timely to accelerate this transition and meet the EU ambition to lead on the next generation for risk assessment in Europe and worldwide.
