FLORIAN WEIGHARDT¹, VALÉRIE ZUANG², SANDRA COECKE², NINA HASIWA³, JAMES M. MCKIM⁴, MICHAELA NOLL⁵
1. Household and Personal Care Today
2. ECVAM, IHCP, Joint Research Centre Ecuador
3. CAAT-Europe, University of Konstanz Germany
4. CeeTox Inc. Kalamazoo, MI USA
5. AgenoLab GmbH & Co. KG, Stuttgart Germany

Abstract

In 2013 a total ban of animal testing for cosmetics is foreseen to become operative in the European Union. Up to today it is unclear whether this deadline will be met due to the lack of validated alternatives to a series of essential toxicological tests. Top ranking experts in this innovative field will showcase and discuss the current state of the art during a scientific seminar organized by HPC today on April 18th 2012 at the In Cosmetics fair of Barcelona (ES).

PRESENTATION OF THE SEMINAR

The Registration, Evaluation, authorization and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH) Regulation issued in 2006, the 7^th Amendment of 2003 of the European Cosmetics Directive and the new European Regulation on cosmetic products issued in 2009 created an unprecedented need for alternatives to animal testing in Europe.
On one side the REACH Regulation set the bases for a huge testing effort to overcome the lack of safety assessment data for all new chemicals and for approximately 30.000 already existing “old” compounds. The registration process has only recently begun, and the estimates on the real testing demands are still under discussion. However, there is little doubt that systemic toxicity testing will account for more than 95 percent of the testing costs and animal use of REACH. It is clear that testing capacities are challenged and that alternative approaches, especially for systemic toxicities are strongly required.
On the other the 7^th Amendment of the Cosmetics Directive has been stepwise prohibiting animal based testing for the safety assessment of cosmetic products or ingredients ...