Animal testing on the rise in the Netherlands; EU rules hindering change

Ten years ago, the Rutte II Cabinet promised that the Netherlands would stop testing chemical substances on animals by next year. Instead, the number of tests on animals has increased. Cumbersome European rules and procedures are hindering the transition to alternative testing, involved organizations told Nieuwsuur.

There is also insufficient funding for alternatives and the approval process can take decades, the National Committee for Advice on Animal Testing Policy (NCad) said. “The common thread is that animal testing is continuing, while there are indeed alternatives,” NCad member Wim de Leeuw told the program.

European safety regulations require animal testing for new chemical substances and food ingredients. This restricts companies who want to use alternative methods.

In 2022, labs in the Netherlands conducted 492,380 animal tests. Most of these (32.5 percent) were safety tests, for example, to identify the risks of pesticides on food. Other animal tests were for the use of chemical substances in household products. Alternatives are available for many of these tests.

“There are alternative methods that are more predictive, faster, and cheaper,” said Merel Ritskes-Hotinga, a professor on animal testing alternatives at Utrecht University. “But the legislation is not being adjusted because the entire system is built around animals.” And animal testing is not all that reliable, she added. “Ninety percent of positive results of medicines in animal testing fail because they work differently on the human body than on an animal.”

The NCad asked the Dutch government to advocate within the European Union to change its animal testing regulations and make sure they’re the same for all authorities. NCad researchers have found a contradiction. For example, one authority requires a skin allergic reaction to be tested on an animal, while it is not mandatory at another authority.

The NCad also has concerns about requirements set by EU authorities, such as the stipulation that rats can’t have food on the night before an organ study, while research shows that this has no added value. NCad also found that animals are sometimes given unnecessarily high doses of a potentially toxic substance, resulting in more pain and unnecessary deaths.

“In recent years, we have increasingly imposed stricter requirements on the safety of substances in consumer products. I think we may have gone a bit too far in some areas,” De Leeuw of NCad told the program. “For example, you can look for toxicity of substances in very high doses. Doses that a human will never receive. You should also look at what is realistic.”