Reproduced from a BBC article – link given at end.

Animal tests for makeup resume after 25-year ban

By Esme Stallard

Climate and Science Reporter, BBC News

5 May 2023

The government has allowed animal testing for makeup ingredients to resume despite a 25-year ban.

It changed a policy on animal testing to align with EU chemical rules, according to a High Court ruling.

The High Court said on Friday that the government was acting legally after a case was brought by animal rights activists.

More than 80 brands have said they are “dismayed” by the government’s new position.

A Home Office spokesperson told the BBC: “We are pleased that the High Court has agreed with the Government’s position in this case. The government is committed to the protection of animals in science”.

Animal testing for makeup or its ingredients had been completely banned in the UK since 1998. Animal testing had only been allowed if the benefits gained from the research outweighed any animal suffering, for example for medicines.

But in 2020 the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA), an EU agency which oversees chemical regulation, ruled that companies needed to test some ingredients used in cosmetics on animals to ensure they were safe for workers manufacturing the ingredients.

During the case it was revealed that since 2019 the government had been issuing licences for animal testing of cosmetic ingredients in line with EU chemical rules, which it retained despite leaving the EU in 2020.

This could include testing chemicals commonly found in foundations and concealers by forcing rats to inhale or ingest them.

It is not known how many such licenses were issued or to whom.

Cruelty Free International (CFI), which brought the case, argued this was illegal and in breach of the animal testing ban for makeup and its ingredients, which has stood since 1998.

Mr Justice Linden ruled in favour of the government, saying that the change in policy still met existing laws, although he said it was “regrettable” the public had not been informed.

The change in the government’s position has been heavily criticised by major beauty and cosmetic brands, including Unilever, Body Shop and Boots. Most major brands have long campaigned to end animal testing.

Cruelty Free International said it was “outrageous” that the government had effectively lifted the ban.

Christopher Davis, director of activism and sustainability at the Body Shop said they would “campaign vigorously” against the changes.

“Allowing animal testing for cosmetics would be a devastating blow to the millions of people who have supported campaigns to end this appalling practice,” he told the BBC after the ruling.

The ingredients that may be tested on animals include homosalate – a common sunscreen ingredient used already in many foundations and skincare products.

In low doses homosalate is safe but in higher concentrations the evidence for its impact on the human immune system are inconclusive.

Manufacturers can now apply for licenses to undertake animal testing before production begins, to ensure the safety of workers. But they still cannot undertake any animal testing to check the safety of the makeup for consumers. This should be done using other methods.

Mr Justice Linden said that nothing was stopping the government from introducing an absolute ban on animal testing of makeup products if it desired.

Cruelty Free International CEO Michelle Thew said: “The case shows clearly that [the government] was prioritising the interests of contract-testing companies over those of animals and the wishes of the vast majority of British people who are strongly opposed to cosmetics testing.”

CFI said it would appeal the decision made by the court and ask the government to reinstate the complete ban in the UK.Dr Julia Fentem, head of the safety and environmental assurance centre at Unilever – one of the world’s largest cosmetic companies – said tests potentially required under the new policy were “unnecessary”, and that safety tests could be carried out without animal involvement.

A new chemicals strategy is expected to be published this year outlining the government’s position on the use and testing of chemicals in the UK – which may include further guidance to cosmetic companies.

Animal tests for makeup resume after 25-year ban – BBC News

Also read  Animal testing for make-up restarts in UK after 25-year ban (msn.com)

Regards Mark

7 April 2023

In the year of the onset of the pandemic, many scientific projects that had planned to use animals were cancelled or postponed, though a number of new studies involving animals were carried out for projects studying COVID-19.

The European Commission has published its statistical report on the use of animals for scientific purposes in the 27 EU Member States and Norway in 2020. This is the first year that data from the United Kingdom – a major user of animals – are no longer included. Four of the 12 countries that saw an increase in the number of animals used, attribute the increase to additional research projects related to COVID-19. 

In 2020, 7,938,064 animals were used for the first time in research, testing and education in the EU-27 and Norway. Although this represents a decrease of 7.5% compared to 2019, multiple factors relating to the COVID-19 pandemic makes comparisons with previous years difficult. National measures due to the COVID-19 pandemic were at least partly responsible for the decrease in the number of animals used for scientific purposes in 11 Member States. 1.8 million animals used for scientific purposes were genetically altered, including mice, zebrafish and other species of fish, rats, amphibians, domestic fowl, rabbits, and pigs.

Another 686,628 animals were reported to be used for the creation and maintenance of genetically altered (GA) animal lines, representing an increase of 4% from 2019. In contrast to previous years, marmosets and tamarins were not reported to be used for the creation of new GA animal lines in 2020. It should be noted, however, that animals used for the maintenance of GA animal lines not displaying a harmful phenotype or not genotyped using an invasive method remain outside the scope of the annual statistical reporting. Also, the European Commission acknowledges that the accurate reporting of animals involved in the maintenance of existing GA lines continues to be particularly challenging.

The report describes considerable new increases in uses of many species. The use of horses, donkeys and cross-breeds increased by 176%, and the use of cats continued the upward trend, increasing by a further 15%. The use of hamsters and other carnivores increased by 66% and 59% respectively. The use of dogs and non-human primates, however, decreased by 16% and 10% respectively. There was also a significant decrease of 90% in the use of cephalopods, which had seen a major increase in 2019.

The main species used for scientific purposes were mice, fish, rats and birds, which together represented 91% of the total number of animals. As in previous years, more than 70% of animals were used for research purposes, of which approximately 40% were used for basic research and 30% for translational and applied research. A further 17% of uses of animals were for regulatory purposes to satisfy legal requirements. The percentage of uses that caused ‘severe’ suffering remained around 10% (796,750 uses). 

Non-human primates continue to be used in the largest numbers to satisfy regulatory requirements for medicinal products for human use (59%), and also for routine production, mostly for blood based products (13%), for studying human infectious disorders (11%), and for other basic research (4%). 81% of the non-human primates used for scientific purposes were born in Asia and Africa, before being transported to laboratories in the EU. Although the Directive encourages movement towards only using non-human primates who have been bred, ultimately, in self-sustaining colonies, the proportion of non-human primates coming from self-sustaining colonies is still low, and decreased by 15% from the previous year. However, inaccurate reporting of information, and a misunderstanding of the term ‘self-sustaining colony’ may have resulted in some fluctuation in numbers over time. 

The use of an animal in any procedure where a validated alternative method, that either avoids the use of animals altogether, or reduces their use and suffering, will always be of particular concern. Nearly 42,000 mice were used in 2020 for the production of monoclonal antibodies using the mouse ascites method, mainly in France (95%). The continued use of this method is of serious concern, even more so as the figure actually represents an increase of 12% from the previous year, and because alternative approaches are available to replace the mouse ascites method. A more positive trend is seen in the uses of rabbits for pyrogenicity tests, which decreased by 21%, but it is clear that more efforts should be made to speed up the transition to non-animal methods.

As in previous years, Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands, Sweden and Denmark remain the EU Member States with the highest number of animals used for scientific purposes, with more than 5.3 million animals used between them in 2020. However, a recent opinion poll carried out in these 8 Member States highlighted the public’s strong desire to accelerate the full replacement of animals used for scientific purposes and transition to non-animal science.

Regards Mark

The US military has been carrying out and funding testing on various animals.

The testing is aimed at seeing if radio frequency waves cause the mysterious sickness known as “Havana Syndrome.”

US intelligence determined last week that the ailment is likely not caused by a foreign adversary or weapon.

The US military has been carrying out experiments on animals in an effort to replicate the symptoms caused by the mysterious “Havana Syndrome,” according to a new report. 

The Pentagon has been exposing primates to pulsed radio frequency waves to see if that could be the cause of the unexplained ailment that has sickened scores of US government personnel over the past few years, Politico reported on Thursday. The new report comes days after the outlet reported that the Department of Defense was continuing to test weapon systems in an attempt to recreate Havana Syndrome symptoms after an intelligence community dismissed the theory that a foreign adversary or energy weapon was to blame.

Continue reading at:

The US military has been testing pulsed energy on animals trying to recreate the mysterious ‘Havana Syndrome’ symptoms: report (msn.com)

Regards Mark

New animal testing campaign

Animal Aid, based here in our home county of Kent, have set up a new website called ‘Universities Challenged’; which helps students identify which universities conduct animal experiments and which reveals the scale of animal testing across the UK. 

Since its launch, Animal Aid have received an outpouring of positive feedback from students and non-animal scientists alike.  Furthermore, the resource has sent rumblings throughout the scientific and educational community, as it is the first website of its kind; allowing students to make informed choices on which university to attend based on whether their fees could be funding animal experiments.

Students and community members are already using the AA resources to put direct pressure on universities, and AA are currently working with several student groups who are planning actions at their universities.

For more, go to:

universitieschallenged.org.uk | Universities Challenged

Regards Mark

Horizon Europe: unlocking the full potential of non-animal technologies to tackle human diseases

24 February 2023

In response to the public consultation on the past, present and future of the European research and innovation framework programmes, Eurogroup for Animals highlighted the need for further focus on human-based approaches to better manage health and disease, and for more transparency regarding animal-based research funded by EU public funds.

The European Commission recently closed the largest public consultation ever held on the past, present and future of the EU’s Horizon research and innovation programmes 2014-2027. Under the current Framework Programme, Horizon Europe, the cluster health aims to advance new knowledge, improve our understanding of health and disease, and develop innovative solutions to prevent, diagnose, monitor, treat and cure diseases. However, it is not clear that these objectives are being pursued in line with the best scientific evidence, the EU’s commitment to move away from animal testing, and the repeated calls from EU citizens to transition to non-animal science. 

“What we do not understand, we cannot address effectively”.

The report on Horizon Europe’s Mission on Cancer stresses that understanding the human biological processes is crucial for developing effective treatments. Preclinical animal studies, which are costly and time-consuming, are of questionable relevance to study human cancers and rarely lead to successful treatments due to physiological, anatomical, and psychological differences between animals and humans. Conversely, advanced human-based approaches can improve our understanding of disease mechanisms, including cancer, provide new insights into drug discovery, and deliver more effective personalised treatments. However, their validation, standardisation and implementation remain slow, partly because these processes are expensive, laborious and often inadequately funded. In its reply to the EP Resolution to accelerate the transition to innovation without the use of animals in science, the European Commission stated that it has been a strong supporter of the development of non-animal methods over the past two decades. Yet, as the Commission pointed out, the annual budget for non-animal approaches has remained unchanged over the last 14 years at a figure of about 48 million euro per year.

In our response to the public consultation, Eurogroup for Animals emphasised that:

Non-animal approaches are game-changing technologies that have the potential to significantly improve our understanding of human diseases by producing data based on human biology, leading to considerable benefits for public health in terms of preventing and curing diseases. 

The Mission on Cancer provides a great opportunity to support and promote innovative non-animal technologies to better understand cancer, and deliver new treatments to address the alarming growth of cancer cases.

Strong national and international collaborations across all sectors and with different stakeholders (e.g. regulators, academia, industry) are key to unlocking the full potential of advanced non-animal solutions, and allow for a continuous interaction and exchange of experience and best practices.

Sharing and disseminating the latest human-relevant scientific knowledge through education and training activities is an effective way to inspire the next generation of scientists and encourage a change in attitudes and priorities.

Horizon Europe should strive to collect and share information in a simple way to understand where animals continue to be used, and where investment in non-animal approaches is most needed.

Significant funding must be made available for the validation and implementation of advanced human-based methods in order to fully unlock and exploit new tools, technologies and digital solutions to tackle and manage human diseases.

The EU has now the opportunity to become a world leader in advancing non-animal science, but this can only be achieved by replacing animal-based methods with next-generation non-animal technologies. Joining forces across Europe to better promote and fund these technologies will help achieve the objectives of Horizon Europe and the Commission’s commitment to fully replace animals in scientific procedures, but also to improve the successful translational outcomes to humans.

Regards Mark