EU Legislation: Millions of animals spared from chemical safety tests

Tens of millions of animals will be saved from use in chemical safety tests over the next eight years after Europe’s chemical regulator gave the go-ahead to a new streamlined study to assess the safety of substances.

European Union (EU) legislation requires companies to test the safety of the chemicals they produce in two generations of animals to assess the effects on their reproductive systems.

Toxicologists were concerned that the testing requirement would mean up to 54 million animals would be used in chemical safety studies to meet the requirements of REACH (Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals) legislation introduced in 2007 (see Chemical-safety costs uncertain).

A proposed new test would allow just one generation of animals to be used, with additional tests on a second generation required only if the first round raised concerns.

The regulator, the European Chemical Agency (ECHA), based in Helsinki, had threatened to reject the test saying that there is not yet enough evidence to rely on one-generation testing (see Streamlined chemical tests rebuffed).

But on 15 February, ECHA announced it has now changed its mind in favour of Extended One-Generation Reproductive Toxicity Study (EOGRTS).

The agency says that the streamlined test will “under certain conditions” provide sufficient safety information to replace the two-generation reproductive toxicity study. It says it has already received around 230 proposals from companies to carry out the new test.

The move comes after Nature revealed that chemical companies were not providing the safety data on reproductive and developmental toxicity REACH requires of them. Nature also found that very few companies were proposing to carry out alternative non-animal tests, causing further concern that REACH would boost the number of animals used in toxicity testing.

Toxicologists say that allowing the streamlined test, which is quicker and cheaper to conduct, will encourage more companies to test their products.

Humanity's Shame: Javan Rhino Extinction

Left: A Javan rhino's leg which was found with a bullet lodged inside, in Vietnam's Cat Tien National Park. 

Right: Officials arrange the skeleton of the last Javan rhino in Vietnam. 

The critically-endangered Javan rhinoceros has become extinct in Vietnam after poachers apparently killed the country's last animal for its horn.

Picture: WWF Greater Mekong/PA/AP

The undated photo below, was issued by the WWF Greater Mekong and it shows a Javan rhino captured on camera in Vietnam's Cat Tien National Park.

The species had been thought to have disappeared from mainland Asia until 1988, when an individual was hunted in the Cat Tien area of Vietnam, leading to the discovery of a small population.

But efforts to conserve the remaining Javan rhinos in Cat Tien National Park have failed, experts said.

Genetic analysis of 22 dung samples collected between 2009 and 2010 by a survey team from Cat Tien National Park and wildlife charity WWF, has revealed that they all belonged to a single individual which was found dead in April last year. 

Butterflies imprisoned by IntraTuin

Live butterfly in Mother’s Day gift box creates outrage in Netherlands and around the civilised World!

Intratuin Netherlands wants to pack live butterflies and sell them as Mother’s Day gifts. News that live butterflies will be packaged as Mother’s Day gifts and sold in garden centre Intratuin has been criticised by the Animal Rights Party (PvdD) and the Dutch Butterfly Conservation in the Netherlands.

The PvdD, which holds two seats in the 150-seat lower house of parliament, slams the sale of a live butterfly in a box as cruel and has asked the Nature Minister Gerda Verburg to ban the sale of the “fragile creatures”.PvdD leader Esther Ouwehand was quoted in the AD as saying: "This is bizarre; butterflies do not belong in boxes."The thistle butterflies, which will be sold in one of Intratuin branches in South Holland, will be priced at EUR 6.99 each.

The sales promotion is aimed at highlighting the plight of some butterfly species in the Netherlands, said a spokesperson for Intratuin. The company expects purchasers to release the insects within 24 hours, thus boosting the butterfly population.

The Dutch Butterfly Conservation condemns the plan and fears that many thistle butterflies are unlikely to survive their time spent in the box."It's a really bad idea. The chance that the butterfly will die is really, really high. If they get warm in the box, they start flapping their wings, get stressed and damage their wings," said Kars Veling of the Dutch Butterfly Conservation organisation.

However, Intratuin maintains there is nothing wrong with selling live butterflies."We are always very careful with the sale of live animals… It's also part of a campaign to make people aware of the fact that butterflies are facing serious problems in this country," said an Intratuin spokesperson.

The argument is invalid according to Veling who said butterfly numbers have fallen dramatically over the last 30 to 40 years due to the enormous changes in the Dutch landscape.“Releasing a few butterflies won't help at all," said Veling.