From The Druid Network Site

[Guest guest]

REACHing for Lush

 

As a fan of Lush, I have loved the fact that their products are cruelty free.

None of the ingredients or final products are tested on animals. Yet, this may

all change, due to a new EU legislation.

 

REACH, the Registration, Evaluation and Authorisation of Chemicals, came into

being in June 2007. The purpose of REACH is to establish safety for humans from

the 30,000 chemicals that are currently on the market. Sadly, tests will not be

carried out on humans – even though they are intended for " our safety " .

 

Toxicity tests of these chemicals will be applied to guinea pigs, rabbits, rats

and mice to see whether they are harmful to humans. Unbelievably dishonourable,

I know. Companies have until 2018 to prove to the European Chemicals Agency

(ECHA) that chemicals they are importing, or new chemicals that they are

creating, are safe for us. The word chemical is not merely restricted to

strange compounds that one cannot even pronounce – it can be a natural

ingredient, in such products as can be found in the Lush range. BUAV (the

British Union for the Abolition of Vivisection) estimate that up to 13 million

animals will be poisoned and killed in these tests.

 

Amendments have been made to the REACH legislation, through the efforts of BUAV

and other organisations. Yet this is not nearly enough. Data sharing has been

exceedingly successful, opening up the data files from companies that have

manufactured their own chemicals and making these tests transparent to all other

organisations, so that other animals need not suffer to repeat these cruel

tests. Companies withheld such information in the past, not wanting the

competition to have access to their hard work. The past may not be changed, but

the future is still in our hands.

 

Before the amendments were made to REACH, estimated numbers of animals that

would have been affected by the testing were in the region of 38-45 million.

Although the numbers have since been reduced to 8-13 million, that is still 8-13

million animals that need to be saved.

 

BUAV are currently asking regulators to begin promotion and to find alternative

methods to animal testing. This is actually under the REACH legislation,

believe it or not. They are also asking the European Commission and ECA to

" maximise the use of valid alternative methods to the industry " . BUAV are

observers at ECHA and other meetings, though they do not have access to all

meetings, and are not consulted.

 

BUAV and ECEHA designed and released a two part report

(http://www.eceae.org/downloads/pdf/ECEAE_TheWayForward_part1.pdf ) to try and

influence REACH in 2001. Some aspects of this report can now be seen in the

REACH guidance and legislation. However, it is only a small step. BUAV have

also outlined a seven step action plan

(http://www.eceae.org/downloads/pdf/ECEAE_TheWayForward_part2_Strategy.pdf ),

necessary to implement the above report and strategy.

 

The general public are in a quandary as to what to do. Supporting BUAV may be

the best course of action in this regard. REACH has come into being with very

little, if any, public consultation. Lush states

 

There is still a great deal of uncertainty over how the Cosmetics Directive,

which is supposed to ban animal testing cosmetic ingredients, will hold up under

REACH, which requires animal test data for those same ingredients – and it seems

only a legal challenge will sort out which of these conflicting pieces of

legislation will prevail.

 

At this time no one in the European Chemicals Agency or the Cosmetic Industry

can tell if ingredients tested on animals under REACH will be allowed to be used

in cosmetics. If they are allowed then there are no truly cruelty-free cosmetics

anymore and our rights as conscientious consumers have been trampled on. Or, if

these ingredients are not allowed then most of our cosmetics and toiletries will

disappear from our shelves as the ingredients they are made from will be banned

for use in cosmetics.

 

Organisations and companies such as Lush seem to be at an impasse as to what to

do. It seems REACH keeps barrelling ahead without concern for anyone, whether it

is human or non-human animal. Lush's appeal for help can be found at their

website, www.lush.co.uk. They state:-

 

WE NEED YOUR HELP!

 

We've been wrestling with the complexities of REACH and animal testing for

years, and to be honest we're a bit stuck. We've tried everything we can to

ensure that we are not forced to contribute to any animal testing, from

petitioning parliament to direct action, but REACH is barrelling ahead without

much public awareness and our ingredients suppliers may be forced to contribute

to animal tests by law.

What can we ALL do to stop this?

 

We would love to hear from you, to get your ideas for action, whether it's

something we can all do as individuals, a campaign for our stores or a public

protest.

 

Come on, let's get active!

 

Yet REACH continues. The European Chemical Agency made its first decision

already regarding a proposal for testing under the new REACH legislation. This

was regarding a new chemical, in which the registrant of the chemical did not

want to undergo any animal testing whatsoever, and which has proposed a means by

which the testing could be waived. ECHA said that this was not sufficient. The

registrant now must conduct animal testing within REACH's requirements. BUAV

states that this test will use " a 90-day repeated dose test and a developmental

toxicity test, in line with REACH requirements. These tests will use 100 and

1056 animals respectively, probably rats, including hundreds of pups in the

developmental toxicity study who will be removed from their mothers and killed

one day before they are due to be born " . BUAV further states:-

 

The ECEAE is disappointed by this news and thinks it shows that the ECHA is

being overly strict in complying with REACH requirements. We are also disturbed

to have found that, as stakeholder observers, we were not allowed to be present

during the discussion about the testing proposal at the meeting, where we could

have made a positive contribution. The ECEAE will be writing to the ECHA

Management board about this.Whether this will result in any changes remains to

be seen.

The debate on whether animal testing for human safety continues. For such as

things cosmetics, for such " needless " things, and for such things which humans

have been using for centuries, if not millennia in the way of natural

ingredients, animal testing is completely irrelevant and unnecessary – it has

been tested on humans already. A stickier debate arises when it come to the

medical industry. Scientists have been able to cure cancer in mice for years

now, but have not been able to apply that science to humans. Why? Because we're

not mice, plain and simple.

 

Supporting BUAV is a step in the right direction. To stay up to date, simply

fill in the forms from their website, at http://www.buav.org/takeactionnow .

More information about REACH can be found at

http://ec.europa.eu/environment/chemicals/reach/reach_intro.htm and

http://www.hse.gov.uk/REACH/ . If you have any ideas on how to help either Lush

or BUAV, if you are organizing a demonstration, a petition, anything, then

please contact these organizations and keep them up to date, as well as The

Druid Network, so that we can all do something. We have a responsibility to the

land and all our fellow brothers and sisters, both human animal and non-human

animal.