Industrialists and Animal Rightists Unite!

Ronald Bailey | November 16, 2005

New European Union regulations would require that thousands of chemicals already in use be further tested for safety over the next decade or so. This is costly to industry, of course, and such testing would imperil the health and welfare of millions of lab rats, mice, and rabbits. This confluence of interests has resulted in the birth of a truly odd strange bedfellows political coaliton between chemical manufacturers and animal rights activists.

According, to the Wall Street Journal:

"We are not trying to hold animals hostage," says Alain Perroy, director of the European Chemical Industry Council, a Brussels-based trade group. But limiting the testing to only the most dangerous chemicals, as the Parliament is expected to endorse tomorrow [Wednesday], "will also save a lot of animals," he says.

PETA spokesperson Troy Seidle, said, "I think there is a huge element of political opportunism in some of these statements. But we don't mind, if it helps lead to an end to animal testing."

This tactic might seem clever to the industrialists now, but it will complicate their arguments for animal testing of new chemicals in the future.

Hat tip to Pamela Friedman.

Comments

|11.16.05 @ 3:30PM|#

"We are not trying to hold animals hostage," says Alain Perroy, director of the European Chemical Industry Council, a Brussels-based trade group.

Frickin' hilarious !

|11.16.05 @ 5:42PM|#

"New European Union regulations would require that thousands of chemicals already in use be further tested for safety over the next decade or so. This is costly to industry, of course, and such testing would imperil the health and welfare of millions of lab rats, mice, and rabbits."

They could use statists for testing, even though they make up approximately 99.999% of the "European" population...

Still sounds like a good idea. :)

|11.16.05 @ 11:54PM|#

This post made me think of a "Venture Brothers" episode "The Terrible Secret of Turtle Bay" where Dr. Venture is experimenting on the family dog (Scamp)while Hank and Dean are looking for him....

In the lab the boys meet up with their father to ask if he knows where Scamp has run off to. Dr. Venture, as it turns out, has been using Scamp for an experiment and thusly has removed the dog's skin:

Dr. Venture: Scamp's an integral part of some ground-breaking research I'm doing for a major cosmetics corporation. You see, their test animals are always expiring before they can perform all their super-important makeup experiments on them. So your father is perfecting a way of keeping them alive longer.

Hank: But pop!

Dr. Venture: Hank. You like pretty girls, don't you?

Hank & Dean: And how!

Dr. Venture: Well pretty girls need cosmetics. How do you think they get so pretty?

[Hank and Dean shrug]

Dr. Venture: So the next time you see an attractive young lady, and you're sure to see plenty in New York City, you just think of old Scamp over there and all he's done for pretty girl science.

Scamp is of course licking his crotch something fierce the entire time this is going on.

|11.17.05 @ 1:20AM|#

Well we've come full circle, Reason *agreeing* with animal rights extremists.

Here's an interesting article re mouse race.

http://www.nih.gov/news/pr/nov96/niehs-19.htm

Terry

Larry A|11.17.05 @ 11:57AM|#

Just because two people vote the same way on a particular question doesn't mean they "agree."

I would say Perroy's position is, "Why waste time and resources (including test animals) retesting old stuff when we can use them to test new stuff."

I bet PETA disagrees.

|11.18.05 @ 1:41AM|#

Larry A:

"Just because two people vote the same way on a particular question doesn't mean they "agree.""

My apologies, I should have said: Reason, on this one issue only (till the end of time) is in agreement (for completely different reasons) with PETA.

I just thought it was kind of ironic.

Terry