The
present campaign: towards the adoption of safe methods for the evaluation
of chemical toxicity
At the begining
of 2001, the European Commission seams to be boosting an old project
dating back some years: evaluation of the toxicity of tens of thousands
of chemicals currently used and to which we are therefore potentially
exposed. The EC creates a web site, to which, in 2003, all contributors
can send a file, and launches the REACH ("Regulation, Evaluation
and Authorization of CHemicals") project. Claude Reiss and his
collaborators draw up the Scientific Toxicology
Programme and send it to the EC.
Our aim is
now to convince the authorities of its relevance... To this end, we
have conducted a practical demonstration: several chemicals
have been tested by a German laboratory according to our methods.
We are particularly grateful to the association One Voice, which contributed
with part of the necessary funds, and to the laboratory, which dramatically
lowered its fees.
Milestones
February 13th, 2008: Further to a suggestion of Antidote Europe, two
MEPs; Jens Holm and Neil Parish, organize à conference at
the European Parliament on Progress without pain - Alternatives
to animal experiments. Prestigious speakers include Stavros Dimas,
European Commissioner for the Environment, Prof Dr Wolfgang Dekant
(Institute of Toxicology, Wurzburg University, Germany), Dr Johan
Rönnelid (associate professor, Unit of Clinical Immunology, Uppsala
University, Sweden), Professor Paul Furlong (Director of Clinical
Neurophysiology, Aston University, UK), Jens Holm and Neil Parish,
Sonja van Tichelen (Director of Eurogroup for Animals) and, of course,
Claude Reiss, president of Antidote Europe.
February 12th, 2008: We are received by Franco Frattini, Vice-President
of the European Commission.
January 29th, 2008: We present a complaint
to the European Mediator.
November 24th, 2007: We attend the ECOPA (European Consensus Platform
on 3R-Alternatives [to animal tests]) meeting, in Brussels, although
we support only one "R" : Replacement!
October 26th, 2007: We attend the workshop Toxicogenomics and replacement
of animal tests within REACH, in Brussels.
October 15th to 18th, 2007: We attend the first International Forum
for an Evidence-based Toxicology, organised in Como, Italy, by
the European Center for the Validation of Alternative Methods (ECVAM).
October 12th and 16th, 2007: We take part in the regional discussions
of the "Grenelle de l'environnement" in Perpignan and Drancy.
Group 3 of this public consultation of environment stakeholders,
entitled "Buil an environment that respects health" explicitly
mentions toxicogenomics.
October 8th, 2007: Fabrizia Pratesi, coordinator of one of our partner
associations, handles documents on toxicogenomics and scientific toxicology
to Mr Franco Frattini, vice-president of the European Commission.
June 25th, 2007: The test results obtained by Antidote Europe, based
on the toxicogenomic evaluation of 22 chemical substances are registered
on an international database : Antidote Europe's expertised is recognised.
May 22nd, 2007: We hand documents about our organisation and our actions
to Ms Valérie Pécresse, newly nominated minister of
Research.
January 18th, 2007: We are received by Philippe Mahoux, President
of the Belgium Senate.
December 18th, 2006: REACH's final version proposes to encourage
toxicogenomics.
December 14th, 2006: Claude Reiss gives a lecture in the Italian Parliament,
during an event organized by Equivita, which contributed to the adoption,
by the Italian Goverment, of a programme aiming to "progressively
abolish animal experiments".
November 29th, 2006: The Social Affairs Committee of the Belgium Senate
tables a resolution asking the Federal Government to: make a feasibility
study on the creation of a toxicogenomics center in Belgium and to
make the same request to the European Council of Ministers, in relation
to the REACH project.
November 25th, 2006: We attend the ECOPA (European Consensus Platform
on 3R-Alternatives [to animal tests]) meeting, in Brussels, although
we support only one "R" : Replacement!
October
10th, 2006: the Environment Committee of the European Parliament accepts
toxicogenomics as a possible method for REACH. An amendment is reintroduced
with a view to the second reading.
October
4th, 2006: Muriel Arnal, President of One Voice, and Claude Reiss
are received at the French Research Ministry.
October
3rd, 2006: Further to the publication of her book Animaux cobayes
et victimes humaines (Animal Guinea Pigs and Human Victims), Helen
Sarraseca is heard by Geneviève Gaillard, President of the
Study Group on Animal Welfare of the French Parliament.
July
10th, 2006: We are at the European Commission
to hand in a letter signed by 140 organizations from 11 countries,
representing more than 1 million European citizens, asking for the
application of Directive 86/609/EEC, which states that no animal tests
must be conducted if there is another method for obtaining the same
result.
July
3rd, 2006: We meet with Senator Anne-Marie Payet, author of a report
on prescription drugs. We suggest improvements in the assessment of
toxic effets of drugs. Senator Payet puts a question to the Health
minister on our behalf.
April
12th, 2006: We are in the Paris offices of the European Parliament,
where Marie-Anne Isler-Béguin (European Green member) has organised
a round table on REACH, with the participation of many health, consumer,
environment or animal protection organisations. We insist on the need
for not accepting animal-based toxicology because the results are
not valid for humans. (This meeting follows others with the same group
on March 3rd, April 8th, May 20th, June 28th, September 29th 2005,
February 1st and March 15th, 2006).
March
30th, 2006: Claude Reiss attends a conference on REACH organised by
the Melun Chambre de commerce et d'industrie. We realise that small
industries are upset by the future burden of REACH.
February
28th, 2006: Thanks to the intervention of the Ministry of Industry,
we are received by chemical firm Arkema, which we inform about the
potential of toxicogenomics and the advance taken by United States
and Japanese firms in this field. This is the first of a series of
contacts with representatives of the chemical industry.
February
6th, 2006: We are received at ECVAM (European Center for Validation
of Alternative Methods), together with our industrial partners BioTeSys,
Scienion and Vigilent Technologies. We engage in discussions about
how to validate toxicogenomics.
January
4th, 2006: We are received at the Ministry of Industry, which is interested
by toxicogenomics and suggests facilitating contacts with possible
partners.
Since
November 2005: We inform health officials on the results of our toxicogenomics
tests of 28 chemical substances (our correspondence
is in French).
November
17th, 2005: The European Parliament accepts toxicogenomics as a possible
method for REACH!
November
14th, 2005: Together with One Voice, we hand a letter to all members
of the European Parliament in Strasbourg.
November
8th, 2005: Press conference at the European Parliament in Brussels
to present the results of our analysis of 28 chemical substances.
We are invited by Monica Frassoni, a Green member, and give a talk
with Fabrizia Pratesi, coordinator of the Italian association Equivita.
October
19th, 2005: Further to his lecture on October 4th, Claude Reiss speaks
again in the Italian Chamber of Deputies, at a hearing on animal experiments.
October
4th, 2005: At the invitation of Equivita, Claude Reiss gives a lecture
in the Chamber of Deputies in Rome, together with Italian parliamentarians
signatories of a bill aiming at banning animal experiments.
From
August 27th to September 2nd, 2005: Claude Reiss attends the toxicogenomics
congress organised by the National Institute of Environment and Health
Sciences (NIEHS) and a Japanese Government organisation. Japan and
the United States are well in advance with the implementation of toxicogenomics,
but they use large DNA chips rather than the small, easy to produce
and cheaper DNA chips we recommend, an original approach by Antidote
Europe.
June
15th, 2005: We are received at the European Parliament in Brussels
by Mr. Guido Sacconi, in charge of the REACH report to its members.
He pays great attention to our presentation of the Scientific Toxicology
Programme and talks with us for more than an hour. We provided him
with documents to be submitted to his scientific advisers.
June
15th, 2005: We are received at the European Parliament in Brussels,
by Mr. Axel Singhofen, Head of Health and Evironment for the Green
members of the European Parliament.
May
24th, 2005: We are received at the Ministry of Ecology where our Scientific
Toxicology Programme arouses interest.
May
11th, 2005: We are received by deputy Muriel Marland-Militello, who
expresses great concern for the problems raised by animal experiments.
April
20th, 2002: We are received by deputy Nathalie Kosciusko-Morizet,
President on the Health and Environment Working Group in the French
National Assembly. She is very interested in our work and arranges
an appointment for us at the Ministry of Ecology.
March
and April 2005: We write to all members
of the European Parliament on the Health & Environment and Industry
& Research Committees, to the President of the European Commission
and to the President of the European Parliament to ask them to take
into account our Scientific Toxicology Programme. Several organizations
in different European countries sign our letter.
February
28th, 2005: We are at the European Parliament in Brussels to present
the Scientific Toxicology Programme at the Alternatives to animal
testing round table, before a public composed of researchers,
industry and associations concerned -and of course members of the
European Parliament.
December
20th, 2004: We write to the French Ministers of Health, Ecology and
Industry to inform them of the existence of the Scientific Toxicology
Programme.
Summer
2004: It takes Hasan and Simone Parvez and Claude Reiss many weeks
to draw up the lists of chemicals to be tested (pesticides, drugs,
etc.), of genes to be included in the DNA chips and of cell types
to cultivate.
May
2004: After disappointing visits of French firms, Hasan Parvez and
Claude Reiss decide to work with a German laboratory. Its senior staff
are former researchers with the Max Planck Institute. The sum collected
by One Voice, however, is not enough to test a sufficient number of
substances to make the demonstration significant. The laboratory takes
a major commercial and militant initiative by offering to cover part
of the expenditure.
April
2004: Muriel Arnal, President of the French association One Voice,
offers to collect funds to proceed with a practical demonstration
by analysing several chemicals with the Scientific Toxicology Programme.
March
13th, 2004: Claude Reiss gives a talk at the Green Party conference
in Brighton, England, at the invitation of Caroline Lucas, re-elected
to the European Parliament.
December
17th, 2003: Claude Reiss has a meeting at the European Parliament
in Strasbourg with Paul Lannoye, Belgian member of the European Parliament,
and Peter Liese, a German member.
October
4th, 2003: Claude Reiss has a meeting in London with several ecologist
members of the European Parliament, among whom Caroline Lucas, and
representatives of several associations (Animal Aid, BUAV, EMP, RSPCA).
July
11th, 2003: Claude Reiss has a meeting in Brussels with several members
of the European Parliament, including Paul Lannoye.
May
5th, 2003: Claude Reiss has a meeting in Brussels with John Bowis,
member of the European Parliament, who suggests several possible contacts
for the REACH project.
