Industrialists and Animal Rightists Unite!

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.