In its response to the European Citizens’ Initiative ‘Save cruelty-free cosmetics – Commit to a Europe without animal testing’, the European Commission proposed a European Research Area policy action to reduce animal use in research and regulatory testing. This action aims to mobilise Member States to streamline their national and regional policies to reduce the use of animals in research and testing, while accelerating the development, validation and uptake of non-animal methods.
Achieving the goal to phase-out the use of animals in science requires the active involvement of a substantial number of stakeholders operating at Member State level. These actors include national/regional regulatory agencies, ministries, industry, other funding bodies, academia and ethics committees. This working document provides examples of actions that can be taken jointly by Member States to accelerate the transition towards medical science and regulatory testing without the use of animals.
