Pour REACH tout le monde sur le pont ...

Après 6 années de discussions, le vote final de REACH est prévu pour cet automne au Parlement européen.

Comme l’ont démontré à plusieurs reprises les tests sanguins effectués par le WWF, les produits chimiques dangereux sont omniprésents dans notre quotidien : dans notre corps, notre environnement et les produits que nous achetons. Conscients de cette exposition incontrôlée aux produits chimiques, quatre membres du parlement européen représentant les principaux partis politiques ont uni leur voix pour appeler à une législation européenne forte sur les produits chimiques, prônant le remplacement des produits chimiques les plus dangereux par des alternatives plus sûres dès quelles sont disponibles.

Cette loi appelée REACH est une opportunité unique. Nous devons absolument nous mobiliser afin que cette législation assure à nos enfants et petits-enfants un avenir avec des produits chimiques plus sûrs

Dear Member of the European Parliament,

The important discussion currently taking place in the European
Parliament
on REACH - aimed at safeguarding human health and the environment, at
last
by highlighting prevention - could be seriously undermined if toxic
risk
assessment is done through unreliable methods. Current methods rely in
large part, on animal testing, although it has been demonstrated that
no
animal species is a reliable biologic model for another species.
Evidence-based medicine, based on systematic reviews does not support
the
thesis that animal experiments provide clear and interpretable results
with respect to human health risks.

An editorial in Nature (November 10th, 2005), pointed out that "the
toxicology tests on which regulators rely to gather this information
are
stuck in a time warp, and are largely based on wasteful and often
poorly
predictive animal experiments." The same article went on to quote
Thomas
Hartung, director of the European Centre for the Validation of
Alternative
Methods, as saying the toxicity tests [based on animal experimentation]
are "simply bad science"; thanks to REACH, "we now have an opportunity
to
start with a clean slate and develop evidence-based tests that have
true
predictive value", which will enable toxicology "to turn itself at last
into a respectable science."

Amendment No 152 (article 13, paragraph 1) states: Information on
intrinsic properties of substances, in particular for human toxicity,
shall be generated whenever possible by means other than vertebrate
animal
tests, in particular through the use of qualitative or quantitative
structure-activity relationship models or from information from
structurally related substances (grouping or read-across), provided
that
the conditions set out in Annex XI are met, or toxicogenomics. Testing
in
accordance with Annex VIII, section 8.6 and 8.7, Annex IX and Annex X
may
be omitted where justified by information on exposure and implemented
risk
management measures as specified in Annex XI, section 3. (Amendment 549
-
first reading) Justification: In addition to the ethical questions
linked
to vertebrate animal testing, there are numerous scientific problems
with
the validity of such animal tests for humans. Information about the
properties of substances should therefore not only make use of
alternative
means such as QSARs, but also of the new and promising means of testing
chemicals by assessing their effects via the reactions of marker
genes."

This amendment would allow new test methods to be introduced, which
would
greatly improve the scope of REACH. In its present form, where animal
tests are still relied upon to deliver results, it could take up to 30
years for the REACH program to be completed, assuming that the
necessary
budget is allowed...

In view of a reliable, rapid and cost-effective toxic risk assessment,
please give your support to amendment 152.

Yours sincerely,