EU and industry launch action plan to reduce animal testing

The European Commission and various industries, including the pharma industry, have committed themselves to a five-year action plan to reduce animal testing.

The plan is published by the European Partnership on Alternative Approaches to Animal Testing. This group, created in 2005 by the Commission, brings together the chemical, pharmaceutical, cosmetics and biotech industries.

"Roughly 20% of the tests carried out on animals in Europe can be considered as regulatory testing. The challenge is to develop alternative methods or strategies that provide for at least the same level of consumer safety as animal tests," said a Commission statement.

The action plan covers five key topics, the first of which is the mapping of the so-called "3R" activities for refining, reducing and replacing animal use. The second topic is the prioritisation, promotion and implementation of future research based on the application of the 3Rs, and the third seeks to identify and spread best practice.

The fourth and fifth topics respectively concern the application of the 3Rs in regulation and decision-making and the validation of methods based on them.

So far, 23 alternative methods have been validated in Europe and about 30 others are under consideration by the European Centre for Validation of Alternative Methods (ECVAM).

The Commission, which estimates that around 11 million animals are used in tests every year, also published guidelines for the labelling of cosmetic products as "not tested on animals".