PCRM Files New Petition with the EPA Against Cruel Animal Tests
 |
Japanese quail, one of many
types of
animals slated for EPA testing. |
In January, PCRM petitioned the Environmental Protection Agency
(EPA) to limit the scope of an ill-conceived and far-reaching plan
that, if implemented, will needlessly poison and kill millions of
animals.
The EPA’s “Endocrine Disrupter Screening Program”
grew out of Congress’s concern about the effect of chemicals
on human growth and development. In 1996, Congress passed a law
requiring the EPA to develop a screening program within three years
to assess how certain chemicals affect humans. Unfortunately, the
EPA has gotten sidetracked. Rather than initiate a program that
would actually protect human health, the agency is planning to test
these chemicals on birds, frogs, fish, and other animals, all inaccurate
predictors of human toxicity.
While the EPA is developing a slate of new animal experiments to
use for its screening program, chemical manufacturers are allowed
to continue marketing substances that may make people sick. PCRM’s
petition would compel the EPA to meet its Congressional mandate—and
deadline—and begin studying how these chemicals affect humans,
not animals.
For more information about PCRM’s petition, please contact
attorney Dan Kinburn at 202-686-2210, ext. 308, or dkinburn@pcrm.org.
|
Some good news
PCRM’s research advocacy department spends much of
its time negotiating with chemical companies and the EPA to
reduce or eliminate the use of animals in toxicity testing.
Often these chemicals are known toxins, but the companies
proposing the tests have overlooked existing data. Other times
the companies or the government propose tests that could be
done without using animals.
Research analysts Kristie Stoick, M.P.H, and Megha Even,
M.S., and toxicology and research director Chad Sandusky,
Ph.D., comb through the test plans, making recommendations
on ways to reduce animal use. Thanks to their efforts, two
different coalitions of chemical companies, the Aromatic Sulfonic
Acids Association, and the BPD/BPA Coalition, recently announced
that they will drop plans to force-feed three types of corrosive
acids to more than 2,000 animals.
|
 Send
this page to a colleague
PCRM Online, February
2005
Media
Center | Health | Research
| About PCRM | Catalog
| Join Us | Search
| Site Index | Home
The site does
not provide medical or legal advice. This Web site is for information purposes
only.
Full Disclaimer | Privacy Policy
|
