European Commission review on the EU chemical legislation, REACH
Posted on 12/02/2013
Eurogroup welcomes the publication of the 2012 review by the European Commission on the chemical legislation, REACH (European Community Regulation on chemicals and their safe use).
The REACH Regulation which was formally adopted on 18 December 2006 aims at promoting the safe use of chemicals and improve the protection of human health and the environment from hazardous chemicals. It also aims to maintain and enhance the competitiveness of the European chemical industry and promote alternative test methods.
The review concludes that while some adjustments are needed, no major overhaul is required of the REACH regulation. It highlights the progress made on alternative non-animal methods and the sharing of vertebrate test data.
The review also acknowledges potential gaps in REACH with the animal experimentation directive (2010/63/EU) and recommends to update REACH to also cover the use of foetal forms of mammals as from the last third of their normal development and independant feeding larval forms.
However, many elements are still missing from the review and great concern remains that animal testing will take place for some chemicals which will also be used as cosmetics. In addition it is felt that the EU has not gone far enough in ensuring animal testing shall only take place as a last resort.
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