CPSC Proposes Codification of its Policy on Animal Testing

The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) is proposing to codify its statement of policy on animal testing. The Commission has been approving since 2003 the recommendations of the Interagency Coordinating Committee on the Validation of Alternative Methods (ICCVAM) to reduce and refine animal testing applicable to test methods under the Federal Hazardous Substances Act (FHSA), the commission said. In order to make the ICCVAM recommendations and Commission’s animal testing policy more accessible and transparent to interested parties, the Commission proposes to update its regulations on animal testing at 16 C.F.R. part 1500, and establish a Web page on the CPSC’s website at http://www.cpsc.gov/businfo/animaltesting.html regarding the ICCVAM recommendations and new developments in test methods that further reduce or refine animal testing, it said. The Commission also proposes to update its statement on animal testing policy to reflect the ICCVAM recommendations that have been reviewed and adopted by the CPSC as being appropriate tests for assessing hazards under the FHSA. In order to make this statement of policy more accessible and transparent to interested parties, the Commission proposes to codify the policy at 16 CFR 1500.232, it said. Comments are due around September 12.