From rxpgnews.com
Mulling alternatives to animal testing in India
By IANS,
Jan 28, 2007 - 3:57:15 PM
Chennai, Jan 28 - The use of animals in experiments for India's drug and cosmetics industry and ways to reduce it will be under the spotlight at a gathering of international experts here from Monday.
The European Union, which 20 years ago began legislating to reduce the use of live animals, is now driving a congress on 'Alternatives to the Use of Animals in Research, Testing and Education'. The first congress in India is being hosted by Sri Ramachandra University in Chennai.
The three-day gathering is being supported by the European Commission's - Centre for Validation of Alternative Medicine -.
The Indian co-sponsor is the International Centre for Alternative Research and Education -, an arm of the People for Animals, aided by The University of Meenakshi Academy of Higher Education and Research, the Indian Council of Medical Research - and the Medical Council of India.
India exports more than Rs.200 billion worth of pharmaceutical products and more and more Indian companies are making cosmetics.
'India may not be able to put its drugs and other products on European shelves after 2013 if Indian companies don't comply with EU animal testing guidelines for such products,' Thomas Hartung, professor of pharmacology and toxicology and chief of the EC's Institute for Health and Consumer Protection, said here.
Once the Registration, Evaluation and Authorisation of Chemicals legislation, comes into force, placing products on European shelves will become tougher still, he warned. The common law is designed to make firms prove that the thousands of chemicals they use in products - from cars to clothes - are safe.
All rights reserved by www.rxpgnews.com