Over 2 million animals used in experiments for REACH

More than 4 million animals will be used in chemical tests by 2018 our science team has predicted. This is more than the European Commission’s worst-case estimate. So far we estimate that a staggering 2.2 million animals have been used in cruel and unnecessary chemical experiments because of EU chemical regulation REACH. But this figure does not include animal tests for tens of thousands more substances due to be registered.

Friday 1^st June 2018 was the final day for chemicals produced and sold within the EU to be registered with the European Chemicals Agency. The deadline marks 10 years under the EU’s REACH legislation.

We believe that the shocking number of animals used is because of the vastly higher number of chemicals being registered than expected. The European Commission has also been slow in adopting non-animal methods, some of which have taken up to 16 years to be accepted.

Dr Katy Taylor, Director of Science and Regulatory Affairs at Cruelty Free International says: “We are deeply saddened that so far at least 2.2. million animals have been forced to suffer in laboratories for REACH. We do not believe that harming animals in this way helps protect people, because animal testing is so unreliable. We are very worried that the final total of animals could be more than 4 million - higher than the Commission’s worst-case estimate. The Commission and the Agency have let animals down, as well as the public who were promised that animal testing would be a ‘last resort’.”

Thanks to your support we have been able to lead the debate on chemicals testing, campaign for fewer animals to be used in tests, and work with institutions to speed up the rate at which alternative methods are used. As the UK leaves the EU we need your support to ensure that the Government keeps its promise that no animal tests for REACH will be repeated in the future, and that data from experiments will be shared with companies in the rest of the EU to stop this from happening.