Richard Denison, Ph.D., is a Senior Scientist.
In an opinion piece titled “Chemical regulators have overreached” in the August 27, 2009 issue of Nature, two prominent animal welfare advocates claim that vastly larger numbers of chemicals will have to be tested under the European Union’s REACH regulation than previously estimated, and hence that 20 times more laboratory animals will be sacrificed. They call for a moratorium on some animal tests. Well, a closer look reveals that it’s the opiners themselves that have greatly overreached.
[Update 8/28: The European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) has just issued this press release also disputing the findings of this new study.]