BISPHENOL A
Bisphenol A - the new silent killer? (August 5th, 2009)
:
Antidote Europe has launched a public campaign regarding the
dangers of bisphenol A and has duly informed the new president of
the European Parliament.
* . * . *
We are asking the European Commission to implement toxicogenomics
in replacement of toxicological tests on animals
We are asking the European
Commission to implement toxicogenomics in replacement of
toxicological tests on animals. If you are a board member of an
association, you can participate by signing our letter and joining
all the associations that have already signed.
(Sign and send before 10 July 2006!)
Antidote Europe is a scientific committee willing to contribute to
the blooming of an efficient and safe biomedical research. In spite
of research's dynamism at the international level, the number of
individuals suffering from severe diseases is increasing. It is
about time to expose the defaults of the most usual techniques,
largely based on animal experimentation, and to inform the public,
the media and the authorities about the existence of safe methods,
at the top of today's biomedical research, for example,
toxicogenomics, of which we propose an original approach.
Why Antidote Europe ?
In spite of the increasing amount of specialised or popularised
scientific published works, in spite of constant appeals through
the media, for biomedical research, and testifying how dynamic this
research is and how important its supplies, one cannot but state
that the number of persons suffering from serious diseases in
developing countries (in the very places where these means are
used) is constantly growing.
As a major cause to this paradox, Antidote Europe has recorded the
enduring of old-aged and outdated research methods with an
efficiency which has never been proved, as a reference to animal
experimenting, especially.
Since its beginning, this practice has been in dispute, but gained
on at large from the end of the nineteenth century and was made
compulsory, in some cases, in the first half of the twentieth
century, under the pressure of its advocates, in spite of some
raising and sometimes famous voices which have been opposed to it
for ethical or scientific reasons ever since.
Antidote Europe doesn't aim at getting involved into the ethical
issue over animal rights.
Antidote Europe is a scientific committee
Our committee is opposed to animal experimenting strictly for
scientific reasons. Our president and a great number of our members
are international researchers, so we can rightfully express
ourselves thereon. That's why Antidote Europe exists: first to
inform about the harm done because of this method on human health
and the environment, then to promote true scientific methods.
The danger lies in the fact that the results of animal
experimenting are not transposable to the human being, neither are
they transposable between animal species. As a consequence, when a
therapy is thoroughly tried and tested, when you test how efficient
a medicine is, when the toxic risk of a chemical product is tested
on a great number of guinea-pig animals, we are not at all informed
about the effects of this therapy, medicine or product on human
beings. Some ten thousands of chemical products are used, some are
assessed as non toxic on the grounds of animal testing, others
without any assessment. And we know that some harmless substance
(or thought to be so) for some animal species or others is not
necessarily harmless for humans.
Therefore we are guinea pigs just as animals. We can draw several
consequences from this statement: side effects from medicines which
range among the major causes for death in industrialised countries,
the exponential increasing of death by cancer to be related to the
amount of carcinogenic chemical substances to be found in one blood
sample of any European or North American inhabitant, the increasing
of cases suffering from neurological diseases (Alzheimer,
Parkinson, multiple sclerosis, etc.), the growing of male
sterility, etc.
In favour of a responsible science
Yet, there are some reliable methods to assess the toxicity of
chemical matters. They are easy to carry out, less expensive than
animal experimenting and the results are available in a few days
only. Why aren't they imposed to industrials? That's what Antidote
Europe is asking the authorities for.
When you know that a very product can be said harmless or
carcinogenic according to the kind of animal species on which it's
tested, it's obvious that animal experimenting is a precious tool
to get the permission to bring even dangerous products on to the
market, or to put victims who would try to sue the manufacturer off
side. With a view to making financial profits, this method is
clearly reliable! To the cost of public health and the
environment.
Antidote Europe wishes to put the persons in charge of private or
state-owned research centres face to face with their
responsibilities in degrading human health, in polluting (still
reversibly?), in killing uselessly animals in laboratories.
Antidote Europe wishes to denounce the accommodating of national
and European authorities with chemical corporations and demand that
the human health shouldn't be given up to industrial profits.
Why "Antidote" and "Europe"?
"Antidote" because it's still time for reacting, although everybody
is already running some risks because of some ten thousands of
chemical molecules to be found around us. The solution, acting in
some way as a counter-poison, consists in testing the toxicity of
these substances, on a reliable basis and in prohibiting the most
dangerous ones. Thanks to our Scientific Toxicology Programme, the
solution is partly under way.
"Europe" because molecules have no barriers and pollution is all
around the world. Before creating "Antidote International", it
appeared as a necessity to be of an influence outside France and to
address the European Establishment for its decisions now influence
the national laws. This seems workable as a purpose all the more so
as our president is also the science adviser for an English
organisation (Europeans for Medical Progress) and is in touch with
numerous organisations inside and outside our country.
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Our team
Antidote Europe is run by Claude Reiss, our President, Augustine
Savy, our secretary and Françoise Reiss, our paymaster.
Trained as a physician, Claude Reiss graduated at San Diego's
university, California. On his way back to France, at the time when
Jacques Monod and François Jacob had just been awarded the Nobel
Prize for their research on the genetics of bacteria, he got
interested in this dawning field and in biology at large.
His first works were dedicated to biophysics. He then involved
himself into molecular biology and later on in toxicology. His
research focused on two major fields:
- the protein translation and folding mechanism: this topic led him
to build some hypothesis about the possible origins of such
neurological diseases as Alzheimer, Parkinson, Creutzfeldt-Jakob
(the corresponding human disease for the mad cow ), multiple
sclerosis, etc.
- the aids virus and its reproducing strategy: with this topic
Claude Reiss was led to propose an outcoming healing strategy. This
technique has already been patented in the United States. The
preclinical tests haven't been carried out yet and Claude Reiss is
trying to gather all the money necessary to achieve them.
During more than thirty years, Claude Reiss worked as a research
director, in the C.N.R.S. (the National Centre for Scientific
Research in France) and at Jacques Monod's Institute. He also
taught biology for third stage studies at Lille's University. Being
now retired from public institutes, he's still doing his research
within some private or associative structures.
He was a leading actor in the organization of two European
workshops on cellular and molecular toxicology: one in Sophia
Antipolis, in 1996, the other in Paris in 1999. The latter led to
the publishing of the following book: Molecular Responses to
Xenobiotics, under the direction of G. Labbe, H. Parvez, S. Parvez
et C. Reiss (Ed Elsevier, 2001).
Augustine Savy was director's assistant, she is retired now. She
was among the first to become members of Antidote Europe and she is
actively dedicated to promote our association.
Françoise Reiss is an emeritus research director in the C.N.R.S.
She is also an international specialist for bacterial
photosynthesis.
With more than 150 written articles, she proved how the
photosynthesis apparatus could turn the energy from light into
chemical energy that is vital for the cell .She was the pioneer in
building this apparatus architecture, which was a technical
achievement as well as a decisive breakthrough in understanding
photosynthesis.
Hélène Sarraseca, Antidote Europe's executive director and also
co-founder, is in charge of the connections between members, the
administration, together with the making of the quarterly journal,
La Notice d'Antidote, and the scientific popularization.
Graduated in neurosciences, she kept research terms at the C.N.R.S.
Not wishing to work in animal experimenting, she didn't take a PhD
and accepted a job as a scientific competitive intelligence
responsible in a company for biotechnology where she had several
other positions (such as patent administrator) till the point when
the company gave up business, as it was taken over by a laboratory
in pharmaceutics.
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Actions
We are asking the European Commission to implement toxicogenomics
in replacement of toxicological tests on animals. If you are a
board member of an association, you can participate by signing our
letter and joining all the associations that have already
signed.
Sign before 10 July 2006!
Scientific research without animal experiments would allow to find
therapeutic solutions relevant for humans, would allow a reliable
assessment of chemical's toxicity. Whether your concern is for your
health and that of your children, animal's welfare or Earth's
pollution, let's work together !
En vous remerciant pour votre attention,
Bien cordialement,
Hélène Sarraseca
Directrice / Director
Antidote Europe
www.antidote-europe.org
30_Millions_d_Amis@xmr3.com
26 rue de Cernay - 91470 Les Molieres - France
0033 (0)1 45 77 48 15 (lundi et jeudi de 10h30 à 18h / Monday and
Thursday
from 10h30 to 18h)