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At last! We will soon have seen the last of animal experiments

No animal experiments for cosmetics! What animal-rights activists have been demanding for decades will finally become a concrete policy: the EU is putting an end to the soft-line approach on animal experiments.
There has been a ban on animal experiments for cosmetic products since 2004. Yet animals continue to suffer for the sake of beauty. The EU has now closed a further loophole by promulgating regulations on animal experiments within the EU in March 2009.
• No cosmetic containing ingredients tested on animals may be marketed anywhere in the EU.
This is a reason for optimism, but it is not yet a victory for animal-rights activists, as the devil is in the details. Unfortunately the new EU regulations contain a loophole that makes further animal experiments possible.

• This prohibition refers only to ingredients used exclusively in cosmetics. These are few, however, since by far the greater part of a cosmetic product consists of ingredients also used in other products. Such substances may still be tested on animals. At least, this will be the case for a few years. The new EU regulations should still be welcomed, though, as – more than ever before – they enforce the use of alternative methods not involving animals.

When will we finally see an end to animal experiments for cosmetic products?

As animal experiments and the rise of modern chemistry are inseparably associated, the best guarantee for cosmetic products not tested on animals is still to do without the large range of new synthetic chemical substances.

• Unlike thousands of ingredients used in cosmetics, directives on certified cosmetics such as Ecocert/Cosmebio, BDIH, Nature & Progrès or NaTrue permit only purely natural ingredients or certain strictly selected ingredients that are identical or nearly so to natural products. The more they are orientated towards authentic natural ingredients, such as vegetable oils, vegetable butter, vegetable waxes and plant extracts, the better.

• We cannot expect animal experiments to become a thing of the past when there are still insufficient alternative methods for investigating the potential side-effects of chemicals. The justification for the continuing animal experiments has been questioned by animal-rights activists for years. So far, there has been practically no progress on policy in this regard. However, the pressure to act is increasing.

• However, a more flexible policy might, for example, involve the accreditation of more alternative methods and the shortening of approval procedures. However, the number of animal experiments will now start to decrease, as the new EU regulations stipulate the following:

• Certain tests will be entirely prohibited from a specific date onwards, irrespective of whether alternative test methods are available or not. This has been a great success after over 20 years of campaigning against animal experiments.

• Until 2013, the basic rule will be that alternative (non-animal) testing methods must be used where such methods exist for the tests in question. Where this is not the case, animal experiments may continue in terms of the chemicals legislation.

• As it has been stipulated, however, that certain tests will only be permitted for a limited time, there is now no way round the development of alternative methods.

More money for research without animal experiments

The question of when the subject of cosmetics and animal experiments can finally be laid to rest depends on the further development of alternative test methods. It can already be seen at this stage, however, that the new EU regulations will result in greater research efforts.

• So far, 50 million euros have been made available by the EU and the Association of European cosmetics manufacturers (Colipa) for developing animal-free test methods to investigate long-term toxicity.

• At the same time, 5 alternatives to animal experiments have been accredited within the EU and in some cases worldwide.

• The crux of the matter is still the long-term toxicity. This term refers to long-term tests in which many animals are killed. Such tests will still be permitted until the deadline, which has been set for 11 March 2013.
Two years before this date, in June 2011, the EU Commission will table a report about the state of research into alternative test methods. It will then become clear whether animal experiments will really be a thing of the past or not from 2013.

Marketing ban on cosmetics tested in third-party countries.

Unlike in Europe, animal experiments are quite the norm in other parts of the world and are even prescribed and hardly ever questioned.

• Cosmetics imported from countries outside the EU may be tested on animals or contain ingredients tested in this way. A ban on the import of such products has long been requested. Now it has finally arrived - with some limitations:

• Cosmetics tested on animals in third-party countries such as Japan or the USA may no longer be imported. However, until March 2013, imported products may contain ingredients tested on animals.
How adherence to the new regulations can be effectively controlled remains an open question, however.

Can “not tested on animals” be 100% guaranteed?

As long as animal experiments are still permitted anywhere in the world, it will unfortunately be impossible to guarantee that they will not take place.

• No manufacturer can afford what the law requires: proving that an ingredient has not been tested on animals by a third party somewhere in the world. This also applies to natural substances such as camomile or calendula, for example. It is impossible to prove that a specific cosmetic ingredient has never been associated with animal experiments, even with the best of intentions and control processes.

• Even national and international logos for cosmetics not tested on animals are no guarantee that a substance has never been tested on animals. Such logos usually refer to a certain deadline after which the substances used have not been tested on animals. Nothing before that date is taken into account, however.

The subject of animal experiments will only be history, however, when all chemicals are tested entirely without animal experiments. It is hoped that this last part of the road will be significantly shorter than the long road that had to be travelled to reach the current status of a ban on animal experiments.