Chapter 19 - Safety within REACH? a transition analysis for the European Commission roadmap to animal-free safety assessment of industrial chemicals

The European Union (EU) is formally committed to the full replacement of animal-based models in safety assessment, but in practice, the transition to an animal-free safety assessment system faces significant hurdles. As the European Commission (EC) develops its roadmap to transition to the animal-free safety assessment of chemicals, the legislative landscape of chemical safety assessment in Europe is changing. Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH) and Classification, Labelling and Packaging (CLP) are being revised, and it is more important than ever to discuss the hurdles to the transition to animal-free safety assessment. This chapter presents a transition analysis of barriers to this transition and categorizes them according to the main underlying and direct causes, allowing for a more nuanced discussion about facilitating change. The EC and the European Chemicals Agency have multiple avenues in the short and long term to facilitate the transition, providing better safety for its citizens while reducing animal testing.