Animal Testing & The European Parliament

[Guest guest]

Nottingham

England

 

5 December 2006

 

TO: All People Who Care

 

My name is Tony Gallett. I am 44 years old and live in Nottingham.

I am posting this message because I care about Animals and

am asking if you are prepared to take action to help laboratory

animals and all of us at a critical time.

 

I am concerned about a proposal called REACH in the present

European Chemical Testing Policy. REACH stands for the

Registration, Evaluation and Authorization of CHemicals. This new

EU Chemicals Policy was initiated because of concerns about the

possible unknown risks of existing chemicals (those used or

marketed prior to 1981) to human health and the environment.

Before 1981 there was no obligation on manufacturers to test

chemicals in order to classify and label them before putting them on

the market.

 

Experts estimate that millions more animals will be subjected to

toxicology testing across the EU once it becomes law - unless the

proposal is changed now. Chemicals of every imaginable kind - from

those used in industrial processes to the ingredients of consumer

products - will be tested on animals from mice to fish to dogs,

causing untold suffering. It is even thought that new laboratories

and testing centres may have to be built to handle the work.

 

Still worse, because of this reliance on outdated animal techniques,

reliable and relevant information will not be provided and our safety

will not be assured.

 

REACH is inhumane, unethical and a huge waste of resources.

All these chemicals will have to be retested again one day anyway

when more scientific methods become available. This is what the

EU Parliament should be spending its money and time on - not

outdated Animal Testing.

 

The REACH proposal is now in the very final stage of the political

process before becoming law. If like me you think it is cruel and

unreasonable to use the more barbaric and extreme animal tests to

test over 30,000 chemicals that have been used by the general public

for over twenty-five years, instead of investing in more humane and

dependable alternatives, then please act now before it is too late.

 

To send an online postcard to the UK Government please visit the

BUAV (British Union for the Abolition of Vivisection) website at

www.BUAV.org. (Select Campaigns, Chemical Testing, Get Active

then Contact the Government).

 

If you are a European citizen not from the UK please contact your

own government or MEP and ask for more reliance on Alternative

Testing in the REACH proposal.

 

For all Non-European members, you can still help. Please tell all

your colleagues and friends in the UK and Europe about REACH.

Everyone can help and you can make a difference.

 

Yours Sincerely

 

Tony