Cefic Senior Advisor Becomes Industry Vice Chair of the European Partnership for Alternative Approaches

Cefic is proud to announce that Katia Lacasse, Senior Advisor at Cefic, has been appointed Industry Vice Chair of the European Partnership for Alternative Approaches to Animal Testing (EPAA). EPAA, a key platform jointly led by the European Commission and industry, supports Europe’s ambition to phase out animal testing for chemical safety assessments. The EU chemicals industry stands behind this goal and has been contributing its expertise and funding research to accelerate the uptake of New Approach Methodologies (NAMs).

“I am honoured to take on this role as Industry Vice Chair of EPAA and help drive critical work of finding alternatives to animal testing. For many years, Cefic has been fully committed to developing modern and reliable methods, like computer models and lab-based tests, to ensure the safety of chemicals. Together with EPAA, I believe we can speed up the use of these new approaches, reducing the need for animal testing while protecting both people and the environment.”

Katia Lacasse, Senior Advisor Product Stewardship, Cefic

As Industry Vice Chair, Katia Lacasse will assist the current Industry Co-Chair (Gavin Maxwell, Unilever) and work closely with the European Commission Co-Chair (Giulia Del Brenna, DG GROW) to deliver EPAA’s ongoing activities. In December 2023, Cefic welcomed the European Commission’s commitment to creating a roadmap aimed at ultimately phasing out animal testing for chemical safety assessments. Katia will now focus on developing the next five-year EPAA strategic plan, including replacing animal testing by innovative, non-animal testing methods or ‘NAMs’, to reduce the number of animals used and to refining procedures where no alternatives are available yet, following the ‘3Rs principle’.