Tell Government Officials to Do Their Jobs Before June 7

[Guest guest]

URGENT: Before June 7, Tell Government Officials to Do Their Jobs http://www.peta.org/actioncenter/ActionAlerts-item.asp?id=2202 Government officials work for you, and they spend your tax dollars in ways that you probably never imagined. For example, they are currently spending hundreds of millions of your tax dollars every year needlessly testing chemicals on animals, but now there is something that you can do to help stop this. Our government has only one agency devoted to the development of non-animal test methods—the Interagency Coordinating Committee for the Validation of Alternative Methods (ICCVAM). Sadly, in its 10 years of existence, ICCVAM has approved exactly one non-animal test method that originated in the U.S. This is not because there are no non-animal test methods. To the contrary, ICCVAM’s European counterpart

has approved dozens of non-animal test methods. Yet our government is working to keep U.S. policies in the Dark Ages. ICCVAM finds a reason to ignore or to refuse to approve even those methods that are accepted—and in widespread use—internationally. ICCVAM has become a major obstacle to the adoption of more sophisticated and accurate test methods. ICCVAM clings to decades-old animal-poisoning tests that were never proved to be relevant to humans to begin with. This causes two major problems. First, animals are being killed needlessly, when non-animal tests could be adopted instead. Second, public health is jeopardized, as non-animal test methods have been demonstrated to be more accurate, more sensitive, and more protective of public health. As a result of its poor performance and pressure from PETA and other members of the U.S. animal protection community, ICCVAM was told by Congress last year to develop a five-year plan to identify

areas of high priority. Shamefully, ICCVAM’s “new” draft plan is nothing new and shows that ICCVAM has no intention of entering the 21st century. Please let ICCVAM officials know that you want them to accept internationally validated non-animal methods, including non-animal test methods for skin and eye irritation, phototoxicity, and pyrogenicity (fever induction), and to follow the additional December 2006 recommendations of the animal protection community. Please send polite comments before June 7 to 5yearplan or submit them via the Web at http://iccvam.niehs.nih.gov/contact/FR_5YP_comment.htm. Please keep in mind that your comments will appear on a government Web site and that impolite correspondence works against us. Please also

ask your congressional representatives to support PETA’s appropriations request to the House and Senate subcommittees on Labor and Health and Human Services, which would require ICCVAM to justify its refusal to incorporate animal protection concerns into its five-year plan.

 

Don't get soaked. Take a quick peak at the forecast with the Search weather shortcut.