Grace is committed to pursuing alternatives to animal testing and has implemented internal processes to keep the number of animal tests to the essential minimum.
Animal testing is only conducted as a last resort when either legally required or to achieve our goal of no harm from our products. Grace will only carry out new tests when it has exhausted all other relevant and available data sources and alternative test methods are not available or not legally accepted. This applies to Grace, its subsidiaries, and its interactions with organizations of which it is a member.
Alternative Methods
Grace will use other data sources before engaging in animal testing. Grace also contributes to the development of alternative methods and approaches, such as:
- Use of the read-across approach to similar substances
- Literature (published data of universities or other organizations) to create a weight-of-the-evidence approach
- Quantitative structure-activity relationship models (QSAR models)
- Published data and conclusions from agencies
- Cooperation with experts and universities to utilize existing data to fulfill changed information demands
Data Sharing
Grace is committed to minimizing animal testing by sharing data when feasible. When legally required to submit animal testing data to a government authority, we work together with other companies producing or importing the same chemical substance to share information on the intrinsic properties of the chemical at issue and to jointly submit the information. In addition, Grace actively shares its data with third parties, applying fair and transparent conditions. conditions.
Approval Committee
All requests for animal testing are referred to a committee of the corporate EHS and product stewardship team who assess the availability of alternatives and approve any proposed testing.