In October 2020, the European Commission adopted its Chemicals Strategy for Sustainability (CSS) – part of the European Union’s zero pollution ambition. The strategy’s goals are better protection of citizens and our environment from harmful chemicals and the promotion of safer and more sustainable chemicals.
Giving its position on the strategy in July 2020, the European Parliament emphasised the importance of ensuring a high level of protection of human health, animal health and the environment; particular regard was given to the minimisation of exposure to hazardous chemicals, application of the precautionary principle, effective protection of workers, preservation and restoration of ecosystems and biodiversity, and the fostering of innovation in sustainable chemicals – all of which whilst minimising the use of animal testing.
We know that Europe’s citizens want to see an end to animal testing, signing a European Citizens’ Initiative of over one million signatures expressing that demand – the second on this issue. Polling carried out in 2020 showed that nearly three quarters (72%) of adults in EU member states agree that the EU should set binding targets and deadlines to phase out testing on animals, and seven in ten (70%) adults in EU member states agree that enabling the full replacement of all forms of animal testing with non-animal testing methods should be a priority for the EU.
Yet worryingly, changes to key EU chemicals legislation under the CSS look set to trigger a huge increase in animal testing with questionable chances of success for better protection for human health and the environment – an approach that follows the misguided notion that there must always be a trade-off between protecting against harmful chemicals and avoiding animal testing.
This Cruelty Free Europe webinar sets out to bring different sectors together to show how we can plot a route to a toxic-free environment using animal-free testing and research.
Ofelia Bercaru joined the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) in 2009 being involved from the early days in setting up the REACH processes, in particular on hazard assessment. She is currently leading the Directorate for Prioritisation and Integration being responsible for the strategy for selecting substances for regulatory action under REACH, CLP and other legislation and development of computational tools for data collection and priority setting.
Ofelia has more than 20 years of experience in the field of chemicals management, being involved in a wide range of activities related to environmental monitoring, hazard and risk assessment. Before joining ECHA, she has been working in different positions in the European Commission and national research centres.
Ofelia holds a chemistry degree from the University of Bucharest and a PhD in chemistry from the Catholic University of Leuven.
Ofelia Bercaru
Director – Prioritisation and Regulation
European Chemicals Agency (ECHA)
Mathieu is a partner of GFBiochemicals, the leading global producer of levulinic acid and derivatives. He co-founded the business with the ambition of finding sustainable alternatives to oil-based products. He has always been interested in new technology and has played an active role in developing his businesses.
At the World Bio Markets Awards in 2016, he was nominated as Bio-based Business Person of the Year. He is also a member of the Paris 2024 Olympic Environmental Excellence Committee.
Mathieu was part of the team that created BIOCIRCE, Europe’s first Masters’ degree dedicated to the bio-economy, through GFBiochemical’s collaboration with several leading Italian universities. In addition, Mathieu co-founded the BioJournal, the world’s first e-magazine devoted entirely to the bio world and eco-sustainability.
Mathieu Flamini
CEO and Co-founder
GF Biochemicals
Dr Gavin Maxwell is Safety Science Advocacy Lead within Unilever’s Safety and Environmental Assurance Centre (SEAC). Gavin studied immunology and since joining Unilever in 2004 has been involved in the development, evaluation and application of Skin Sensitisation New Approach Methodologies (NAMs) for Next Generation Risk Assessment (NGRA). He has also helped lead EU Cosmetics Industry-funded non-animal safety science programmes for the last 15 years (e.g. Cosmetics Europe Long Range Science Strategy) and is currently industry co-chair for the European Partnership for Alternatives to Animal Testing (EPAA).
Gavin Maxwell
Co-Chair
European Partnerships for Alternatives to Animal Testing (EPAA)
Anna Lennquist
Senior Toxicologist
ChemSec
Dr. Nicole Kleinstreuer is the acting director of the NTP Interagency Center for the Evaluation of Alternative Toxicological Methods (NICEATM), the US federal resource for alternatives to animal testing. At NICEATM, she leads domestic and international efforts to develop novel testing and analysis strategies that provide more rapid, mechanistic, and human-relevant predictions of potential environmental chemical hazards.
Kleinstreuer’s research focuses on mathematical and computational modeling of biological systems and their susceptibility to perturbations that result in adverse health outcomes. She has a secondary appointment in the NIEHS Division of Intramural Research Biostatistics and Computational Biology Branch, and adjunct faculty positions in the Yale University School of Public Health and the Eshelman School of Pharmacy at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She has published over 125 peer-reviewed publications and won numerous awards, including the 2022 NIH Director’s Award, the 2019 Society of Toxicology Achievement Award, the 2016 Young Researcher Americas Award from the Lush Prize Foundation, the 2012 US EPA Office of Research and Development Impact Award, and the 2008 B.H. Neumann Prize from the Australian Mathematical Society.
Nicole Kleinstreuer
NICEATM Director (Acting)
National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIHS)
More speakers to be announced shortly.
Note: All session timings below are in Central European Summer Time (CEST)
For decision-makers and regulators, protecting people and the environment is rightly a fundamental concern. It’s often argued that a system based on non-animal methods will mean accepting lower levels of protection from dangerous chemicals. Animal tests are old science – crude, misleading and without the rigorous validation of non-animal methods. An accelerated and more complete transition to non-animal methods is indispensable for faster characterisation and regulation of chemicals and the facilitation of safe and sustainable innovation.
How we manage the risks posed by substances with endocrine disrupting properties is of great consequence. As the focus falls on the EU’s plans to change the way that chemicals with potential endocrine disrupting properties are regulated, those consequences for the animals used in testing look grave. But a tick-box approach that relies on animals is not the answer. What should we do instead?
Erik Prochazka has an undergraduate degree in Environmental Health Science and a master’s degree (by research) in Environmental Science from Griffith University in Brisbane, Australia, both with a focus on environmental toxicology and human health risk assessment.
Prior to joining Cruelty Free International in 2022, Erik dedicated his efforts to the development and validation of novel in vitro testing methods and strategies used in toxicology, and to their application for chemical hazard and risk assessment. Erik has a keen interest in systems biology, mechanistic toxicology, endocrine disruption, and application of new methodology to regulatory toxicology.
In 2019, Erik joined the animal protection sector and started working on EU regulatory testing issues, focusing primarily on the technical and policy aspects of the Chemicals Strategy for Sustainability.
As the European Commission’s proposals for revising two of the main instruments comprising existing EU chemicals legislation, the Classification, Labelling and Packaging Regulation and the Regulation on the Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals, embark on their legislative journey, we have an opportunity to ensure a system based on non-animal methods is built. What should that system look like and how do we get there?
For decision-makers and regulators, protecting people and the environment is rightly a fundamental concern. It’s often argued that a system based on non-animal methods will mean accepting lower levels of protection from dangerous chemicals. Animal tests are old science – crude, misleading and without the rigorous validation of non-animal methods. An accelerated and more complete transition to non-animal methods is indispensable for faster characterisation and regulation of chemicals and the facilitation of safe and sustainable innovation.
How we manage the risks posed by substances with endocrine disrupting properties is of great consequence. As the focus falls on the EU’s plans to change the way that chemicals with potential endocrine disrupting properties are regulated, those consequences for the animals used in testing look grave. But a tick-box approach that relies on animals is not the answer. What should we do instead?
Erik Prochazka has an undergraduate degree in Environmental Health Science and a master’s degree (by research) in Environmental Science from Griffith University in Brisbane, Australia, both with a focus on environmental toxicology and human health risk assessment.
Prior to joining Cruelty Free International in 2022, Erik dedicated his efforts to the development and validation of novel in vitro testing methods and strategies used in toxicology, and to their application for chemical hazard and risk assessment. Erik has a keen interest in systems biology, mechanistic toxicology, endocrine disruption, and application of new methodology to regulatory toxicology.
In 2019, Erik joined the animal protection sector and started working on EU regulatory testing issues, focusing primarily on the technical and policy aspects of the Chemicals Strategy for Sustainability.
As the European Commission’s proposals for revising two of the main instruments comprising existing EU chemicals legislation, the Classification, Labelling and Packaging Regulation and the Regulation on the Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals, embark on their legislative journey, we have an opportunity to ensure a system based on non-animal methods is built. What should that system look like and how do we get there?
Cruelty Free Europe is a Brussels based network of animal protection groups working to bring animal testing to an end across Europe. With a presence at the heart of EU decision-making, Cruelty Free Europe campaigns to ensure that animals used in experiments in Europe are taken seriously on the European political agenda.
The power of Cruelty Free Europe lies in combining the expertise and focus of a central team of science and regulatory experts from Cruelty Free International with the national perspective, skills and energy of associate member groups across the countries of Europe.
For more information on any aspect of this event, please contact Forum Europe using any of the details below.
Charlene Bowditch
Director | Head of Event Management, Forum Europe
[email protected]
+44 (0) 2920 783 079
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