SE has issued a statement in response to the European Citizens' Initiative (ECI) on Save Cruelty-free Cosmetics - Commit to a Europe without Animal Testing which calls for a complete stop of all animal testing. The ESE statement mainly focuses on the second part of the ECI which calls for the abolishment of all animal testing for chemical research. The latter would include the possibility to use animal models to identify and assess Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals (EDCs) which would have a strong adverse impact on all research efforts in this area.
As outlined in the statement, ESE is well aware of societal concerns and strongly supports the intensification of efforts to develop and adopt alternative approaches including for the identification of EDCs. However, the science is not there yet and currently some animal testing remains necessary to continue the identification of EDCs as well as the development of life-saving treatments to the benefit of patients.
Click here to read the full ESE statement.
Biomed Alliance in Europe statement on the ECI (endorsed by ESE as a member of the Alliance)
“New Citizens Initiative attempting to limit animal testing will have detrimental effect on life-saving health research” - the Biomed Alliance statement can be found here.
What is an ECI?
An ECI is a political tool for EU citizens to actively take part in EU policy-making. If citizens want the EU to take action on a particular issue, they can launch a citizens’ initiative calling on the European Commission to propose new EU legislation on that issue. For an initiative to be considered by the Commission, one million citizens from across the EU need to support it.
For more detailed information on ECI’s click here.
May 2023
20/03/2024