Help reform chemical testing

Your help is needed to ensure that new chemical testing legislation will better protect human health and the environment while minimizing animal testing.

Please send a quick e-mail asking your senator to strengthen the Safe Chemicals Act of 2010, S. 3209, to phase out ineffective animal testing methods.

The Safe Chemicals Act would overhaul the 34-year-old Toxic Substances Control Act and tighten regulations on chemicals used to produce industrial and consumer goods. While the bill does incorporate key reforms that would reduce and replace the use of animals and improve the effectiveness of toxicity testing, it does not go far enough.

Specific provisions that should be included in the bill to minimize animal testing and move toward more human-relevant testing methods are:

A requirement for the use of nonanimal testing methods when they are available, which would spur innovation and protect millions of animals;

Establishment of an oversight body for nonanimal methods development that includes public stakeholders and experts on the front lines of alternative testing, rather than just government scientists; and

Specific appropriations to the EPA for the development of toxicity test methods based on human cells and cell components instead of animals.

For chemical regulation to be effective, it must not rely on unreliable and inhumane animal tests. In fact, there are so many chemicals to test that nonanimal methods are the only way to ensure they are all assessed before the middle of the next century!

Please send a polite e-mail to your senator asking him or her to ensure that the Safe Chemicals Act of 2010 offers true public health protection by focusing on human-based, nonanimal methods for toxicity testing.

After contacting your senator, please forward this message to friends and family in the above states.

Learn more about the Toxic Substances Control Act.

Thank you for your support and compassion.

Warm regards,
Kristie Sullivan, M.P.H.
Scientific and Policy Adviser