PCRM Scores New Victory Against Animal Testing

PCRM toxicologists are working to stop the cruel deaths of millions of animals who are poisoned, dissected, and killed each year in government-sanctioned tests on industrial chemicals.

The PCRM team, which includes senior toxicologist Chad Sandusky, Ph.D., and research analysts Kristie Stoick, M.P.H., and Megha Even, M.S., pores over foot-high reports generated by chemical companies describing planned tests to the Environmental Protection Agency. They then examine possible alternatives and review existing data—the chemical companies often overlook studies that have already been conducted that provide the same information new tests would generate—and then recommend ways to eliminate the proposed tests.

Recently, the team was able to persuade Rhodia, a French chemical company, to forgo a series of cruel reproductive and genetic toxicity tests it had planned for 1,340 rats. In one test, the company proposed to force-feed the animals a chemical mixture used in the production of agricultural chemicals and then kill and dissect the animals after they’d each had one litter of pups—to look for damages to the animals’ reproductive organs. Megha Even, M.S., was able to convince the company and the EPA that existing data provided enough information about the potential effects the chemical mixture has on reproductive parameters. It took nearly a year of public comments and phone calls, but the company finally agreed to forgo the tests. By pushing chemical manufacturers and government regulators, the PCRM team blocks many such tests.

Without PCRM providing the scientific scrutiny necessary to monitor the EPA and the chemical industry, thousands of animals would die unnecessarily each year.

PCRM Online, November 2005

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