Toxicologists Tell Seventh Generation: Support Human-Based Chemical Tests
An Animal Rights Article from All-Creatures.org

FROM

Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM)
September 2014

[NOTE from All-Creatures.org: GOOD NEWS, October 27, 2014: Seventh Generation and The Physicians Committee Agree to Collaborate]

[Note from All-Creatures.org: Action Alert - Tell Seventh Generation to Stop Promoting Animal Testing]

In order to improve the identification and regulation of harmful chemicals, it is absolutely crucial that Congress avoid such a “one-size-fits-all” testing scheme, Sullivan says. Chemical regulations must be effective and efficient, but the only way to achieve that goal is to stop testing on animals.

Household product company Seventh Generation says it is committed to advocating for better protections against toxic chemicals. But for the last five years, the company has conducted large grassroots campaigns to promote legislation that would require companies to test thousands of chemicals on animals—an approach that fails to keep people, the planet, and animals safe.

After a nearly year-long effort to collaborate with Seventh Generation to ensure its advocacy would not result in more animal tests, the Physicians Committee launched a public-facing campaign through social media and other online platforms to encourage the company to change its stance. So far, the message has reached more than 70,000 people and has generated thousands of Facebook posts, tweets, phone calls, and e-mails directed toward the company.

Seventh Generation responded with a statement highlighting the fact that it does not test its own products on animals—a claim that sidesteps the broader issue of the company’s politics. As of this writing, the Physicians Committee and concerned consumers are still asking for it to commit to advocating for only nonanimal testing methods.

“In trying to attract eco-conscious consumers, Seventh Generation is promoting policies environmental organizations have always pushed for: more testing,” wrote Physicians Committee director of regulatory testing issues Kristie Sullivan, M.P.H., in an article for news outlet The Dodo. “But we can’t just get more information; we need the right information.”

Sullivan, a toxicologist by training, has long pushed for more effective tests to assess chemical safety. She and her colleagues at the Physicians Committee have been urging for reforms to the 1976 law regulating industrial chemicals, the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), to require that nonanimal tests always be used preferentially and to speed up their adoption and development. These methods are not only far more accurate but also more efficient and cost effective.

Seventh Generation and its allies—environmental and public health organizations—have also been advocating for reforms to TSCA. The changes they promote, however, include a checklist of animal tests required to be conducted for every single new and existing chemical. Such a provision would fail to provide useful information about chemical toxicity and delay regulations to wait for testing results.

In order to improve the identification and regulation of harmful chemicals, it is absolutely crucial that Congress avoid such a “one-size-fits-all” testing scheme, Sullivan says. Chemical regulations must be effective and efficient, but the only way to achieve that goal is to stop testing on animals.


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