The last resort requirement under REACH: From principle to practice.

REACH (Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals) is a European Union regulation that aims to protect human health and the environment from the risks posed by chemicals. Article 25 clearly states that: " [i]n order to avoid animal testing, testing on vertebrate animals for the purposes of this Regulation shall be undertaken only as a last resort. " In practice, however, the standard information requirements under REACH are still primarily filled using animal studies. This paper presents examples illustrating that animal testing is not always undertaken only as a last resort. Six over-arching issues have been identified which contribute to this: (1) non-acceptance of existing animal or non-animal data, (2) non-acceptance of read-across, (3) inflexible administrative processes, (4) redundancy of testing, (5) testing despite animal welfare concerns and (6) testing for cosmetic-only ingredients. We, members of the Animal-Free Safety Assessment (AFSA) Collaboration, who work together to accelerate the global adoption of non-animal approaches for chemical safety assessment, herein propose several recommendations intended to aid the European Commission, the European Chemicals Agency and registrants to protect human health and the environment while avoiding unnecessary animal tests - truly upholding the last resort requirement in REACH. [Display omitted] • Animal testing as a last resort is a key pillar of the REACH regulation. • The acceptance of non-animal approaches under REACH is low. • The last resort requirement should be the primary consideration under REACH. • Case examples where animal testing was not used as a last resort are described. • Recommendations for governance and enforcement are provided to all stakeholders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]