Memo: European research for product safety: reducing animal testing through innovation

On 24 April 2007 - World Lab Animal Day - the European Commission is presenting its activities in the area of research for reducing animal testing. Over the past 20 years, Europe has taken the lead in replacing animal experimentation in product development through dedicated research. EU funding for the development and quality assessment of new testing techniques is allocated to cutting-edge research programmes funded through the EU's Research Framework Programmes and coordinated by DG Research and the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission. The research activities with DG RTD focus on developing new ideas and the JRC establishes their quality via its European Centre for the Validation of Alternative Methods (ECVAM). Demand to speed up these processes has been increasing recently due to the EU Cosmetics and Chemicals Legislation and the desire to avoid complications associated with drug development.