ECHA CALLS AGAIN FOR INFORMATION TO AVOID ANIMAL TESTS

The European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) is calling for information on the long-term health effects of a specific chemical substance by 11 January 2010. This is a public consultation foreseen by the REACH Regulation for testing proposals involving animals. The aim of the call is to give anyone the opportunity to submit relevant data with a view to make sure that animal testing is only conducted as a last resort when the available information is not sufficient to assess the potentially harmful effects of this chemical on human health or the environment. The chemical is a new substance with the name of “4-((Triethoxysilyl)methyl)morpholine”. he registrant has, as permitted by the legislation, claimed certain details of the dossier information confidential and so they cannot be made public. Based on the available data the registrant has classified the substance as harmful to aquatic organisms. The testing proposal from the registrant concerns information on repeated dose toxicity and reproductive toxicity, i.e. experimental tests involving vertebrate laboratory animals. The testing proposal will be evaluated by ECHA in the coming months, together with any information resulting from this call. On the basis of the evaluation ECHA will propose a decision to accept, amend or to reject the testing proposal.