London

An unlikely alliance of animal-rights organizations and chemical-industry bodies is running out of time in its bid to stop a proposed chemical-testing plan from being implemented in Europe.

An eight-week consultation on the latest draft of the European Commission's new policy, which campaigners warn could lead to a massive increase in testing on animals, ended last week. Opponents of the legislation say they doubt whether any major changes will be made before the proposals go before the European Parliament later this year.

The draft contains details for a new Registration, Evaluation and Authorisation of Chemicals (REACH) system for all untested chemicals manufactured in the European Union (EU) in quantities over one tonne. The system would reverse the burden of proof, requiring manufacturers to demonstrate the safety of a new product.

The rules are being introduced in part to guide the assessment of existing chemicals, as European-level testing only began in 1981. Campaigners say that the process would involve the evaluation of more than 30,000 chemicals and could potentially take decades. Animal-rights groups estimate that more than 12 million animals would be needed (see Nature 418, 116; 200210.1038/418116a).

Representatives from the chemical industry, trade unions and animal-rights organizations, who met in London last week to publicize their concerns, complain that the rules make no attempt to prioritize chemicals by looking at probable risks and existing data. The result, they say, will be duplication of tests and the redundant testing of everything from benzene to baking soda. Similar arguments have surrounded the introduction of a new testing regime in the United States (see Nature 395, 828; 199810.1038/27497).

The campaigners warn that chemical firms may relocate outside Europe. Chemicals imported to the EU will need to have REACH clearance, but products containing chemicals may not.

Commission officials say that a new testing system is badly needed in the interest of public health and that the legislation can still be amended. But campaigners fear that the draft will be rushed through before the European Parliament's term ends next May.

This doesn't bode well for those who want to change the rules, says Roger Jeary, national secretary of manufacturing for the London-based trade union Amicus. “Once you get to the stage of publishing draft legislation,” he says, “the changes tend to be at the edges, rather than in the substance.”