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		Kennel Club concerned over EU regulation Tuesday, 5th September 2006 Concerns that EU regulations could lead to increased and unnecessary testing on animals Lutterworth – Representatives from the Kennel Club and FRAME, an organisation which promotes research into alternatives to animal testing of drugs, visited East Midlands MEP Roger Helmer in Lutterworth last week to discuss EU regulation, which they believe could result in unnecessary animal testing. Caroline Kisko of The Kennel Club and Bob Combes of FRAME met with Mr Helmer to express their concerns that the EU's controversial proposals on chemicals regulation, known as "REACH", are likely to result in very large amounts of unnecessary animal testing, including testing on dogs. On some estimates, millions of animals could be sacrificed. Mr Helmer strongly agreed with the Kennel Club's position. While supporting the general objectives of REACH, he believes that the proposed methodology is slow, cumbersome and inefficient, and will create serious problems for competitiveness in Europe, as well as posing an unnecessary threat to animals. The Kennel Club also discussed its concerns on anti-dog legislation, and on the treatment of greyhounds, in several EU countries. Commenting on the meeting, Mr Helmer said: "As a dog owner myself, I am very concerned about the welfare of dogs, and I have previously campaigned on the dangerous dogs issue. I believe that the Kennel Club is quite right to be concerned about the EU's chemicals proposals. There are better ways to ensure the safe use of chemicals, without a huge new programme of animal testing".