Appeals body says firms must prove data from one chemical is fit for another

摘要

The European Chemicals Agency (ECHA)'s Board of Appeals has ruled that applicants must fully justify using 'read-across,' where toxicity and other test data on one substance is used for another with a similar make-up. Read-across is permitted and even encouraged under the REACH chemicals regulation as a way to avoid duplication of costly studies, particularly of animal testing, but its use needs to be justified and the similarity between the two substances that would mean new tests were not needed on the second, demonstrated. In a decision published on 13 February, the Board of Appeals interpreted the conditions that have to be met when a registrant adapts the standard information requirements through the use of a read-across approach.