Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to the commitment of the European Commission and European Chemicals Agency to develop a roadmap toward full replacement of animal testing, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that UK chemicals regulation (a) remains competitive and (b) is at the forefront of scientific development.

The UK has been at the forefront of opposing animal tests where alternative approaches could be used. We are determined that there should be no need for any additional animal testing for a chemical that has already been registered under UK REACH, unless it is subject to further evaluation that shows the registration dossier is inadequate or there are still concerns about the hazards and risks of the chemical, especially to human health.

The UK is supporting work to develop New Approach Methodologies (NAMs) which can provide information on chemical hazards and risk assessment. NAMs can provide information on chemical hazard and risk assessment without the use of protected animals. The UK is already, and will continue to be, a strong contributor to NAMs development at an international level. It contributes, for example, to the development of non-animal alternatives for chemical testing through collaborative research programmes and work at the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), which develops internationally standardised tools and guidance to support companies and regulators in the use of non-animal methods.

Defra is working with others across Government on the use of non-animal methods into chemicals and wider risk assessment where they are equal to or offer improvements to accuracy, speed and efficiency. Our approach to regulation aligns with this direction of travel; for example REACH contains the last resort principle, which means that an animal study can only be carried out once a company has exhausted other ways of assessing the chemical’s hazard.

We are developing a cross-government Chemicals Strategy to frame the work we are doing across chemicals and put us on a path for improved chemicals management. It will set out our priorities and principles for taking regulatory action to protect human health and the environment. We are aiming to publish the Chemicals Strategy in 2023.