ANIMAL TESTING BAN PROMPTS INNOVATIVE SOLUTION FOR COSMETICS INDUSTRY

1.38.00pm GMT Tue 4th Mar 2008

An upcoming EU ban on cosmetics testing on animals has prompted a creative solution which should give more reliable results - testing products on skin samples left over from cosmetic operations.

The new method has already been welcomed by the RSPCA, while the European Commission has estimated that it could save around 20,000 animals per year.

Local Euro-MP Liz Lynne has long campaigned on animal welfare issues, and has welcomed the new development:

"While testing on cosmetic surgery leftovers may sound a little Frankenstein-esque, I think this is a marvellous scientific development. Logically, human skin should give more accurate results in testing for skin reactions than animal skin does. The skin samples used are only what others would have disposed of as waste and we must remember that no living creature has been harmed in the testing.

"I am proud that the UK was one of the first countries to voluntarily abandon cosmetic testing on animals over a decade ago, but since then there has always been a danger that products tested on animals could be sold in the UK after being made elsewhere. The ban, which will come into force from next year, will put paid to that risk.

"I hope that the innovations which have already happened as a result of the upcoming ban will give rise to new technologies which will reduce the need for animal testing in other fields such as pesticides and pharmaceuticals."

ENDS

Notes to Editors:

Episkin, the human skin 'product' used in cosmetic testing, took over 20 years to develop into what has now been recognised by a European Commission regulator as being at least as good as a test on rabbits and therefore a viable official alternative to animal testing for irritation of the skin.

Liz Lynne MEP has long campaigned on animal welfare issues, recently speaking out against the current Japanese 'scientific' whale hunt, killing snakes for their skin and also in strong support of the EU proposal for a ban on the import of cat and dog fur into the European Union, due to horrific practices involved in their slaughter.