User:Krob18/Draft:Animal Testing for Consumer Products and Medical Research

Guinea pig injection

Animal Testing for Consumer-based Products

When it comes to products peoples use every day, many are only able to be on the market because they have been tested on animals first. There are many companies who are appealing to those against animal testing by clearly stating that their products are not tested on animals on packing and in commercials.

Some companies, cosmetic companies in general, go so far as to market products as created with berries only, although even then animal testing can be involved in products using "all-natural" products.

Differences in Animal Testing in Various Countries

When it comes to animal testing in other countries, PETA mentions multiple countries where strides have been or are being made to end animal testing, Europe has been mentioned as banning the sale of animal cosmetic products as a whole. UK banned the testing of cosmetic products on animals in 1998. The ban was initially for finished products. The European Union was successful in creating non-animal related methods to test the safety of cosmetic products and as a result, created and passed EU Regulation 1223/2009. As of a result of the legislations, cosmetic testing on animals was then banned across the EU in 2013.

Due to the legislation, no cosmetic product can be sold or marketed if the finished product or any of its ingredients have been tested on animals anywhere in the UK or EU. To do so is illegal. For clarification purposes, the EU states the following about cosmetic products:

"The assessment of whether a product is a cosmetic product has to be made on the basis of a case-by-case assessment, taking into account all characteristics of the product. Cosmetic products may include creams, emulsions, lotions, gels and oils for the skin, face masks, tinted bases (liquids, pastes, powders), make-up powders, after-bath powders, hygienic powders, toilet soaps, deodorant soaps, perfumes, toilet waters and eau de Cologne, bath and shower preparations (salts, foams, oils, gels), depilatories, deodorants and anti-perspirants, hair colorants, products for waving, straightening and fixing hair, hair-setting products, hair-cleansing products (lotions, powders, shampoos), hair-conditioning products (lotions, creams, oils), hairdressing products (lotions, lacquers, brilliantines), shaving products (creams, foams, lotions), make-up and products removing make-up, products intended for application to the lips, products for care of the teeth and the mouth, products for nail care and make-up, products for external intimate hygiene, sunbathing products, products for tanning without sun, skin-whitening products and anti-wrinkle products."

Timeline of the EU Ban:

• January 1, 1998: EU Directive 76/768/EEC was supposed to become effective and, due to the 6th amendment of the directive, banned the sale of cosmetic products that were tested on animals. This amendment was passed in 1993 in set for 1998 in order to give the EU enough time to develop alternate testing methods to replace animal-testing. However, because no acceptable alternative methods were found, the ban was pushed to June 30, 2000 then again to June 30, 2002. When the 7th Amendment was passed in 2003, it had a deadline of 2013 and included introducing the ban in phases

• September 11, 2004: The EU stated that the sale of cosmetic products that had been tested on animals was illegal, as such the sale of such products was banned. The ban only pertained to finished products and not did not encompass products whose ingredients had been tested on animals.
• March 11, 2009: The EU included cosmetic products whose ingredients have been tested on animals within the ban. The ban was only effective products containing newly-tested ingredients. Animal testing was still allowed for certain complex human health issues related to the ingredients contained within the cosmetic products.
• March 11, 2013: The EU implemented the full ban on the sale or marketing of any cosmetic product whose finished products or whose ingredients has been tested on animals
• July 11, 2013: EU Regulation 1223/2209 replaced EU Directive 76/768/EEC

The United States and many other countries do not ban the sale of products that have been tested on animals outright, however the United States has regulations in place that each business must abide by to ensure lab animals do not suffer and appropriate measures are being taken when it comes to testing. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) states the following with regards to animal testing and cosmetics:

"The FD&C Act does not specifically require the use of animals in testing cosmetics for safety, nor does the Act subject cosmetics to FDA premarket approval. However, the agency has consistently advised cosmetic manufacturers to employ whatever testing is appropriate and effective for substantiating the safety of their products. It remains the responsibility of the manufacturer to substantiate the safety of both ingredients and finished cosmetic products prior to marketing."

In the United States, it is left up to the cosmetic companies to determine what course of action is needed to determine to safety of their finished product and the ingredients included in the product. Cosmetic companies that do decide to use animal testing as part of their research must abide by the Animal Welfare Act. The FDA also mentions that, in addition to the Animal Welfare Act, the administration also supports the Public Health Service Policy of Humane Care and Use of Laboratory Animals. However, as the Animal Welfare Act is the only federal law that pertains to animal testing, only those institutions supported by the Public Health Service funded research must abide by it.

Ongoing Conflicts and Controversy

The California Biomedical Research Association presented a documented that listed multiple reasons why animal testing is necessary, including that some animals tend to have the same medical problems as humans. However, there is an opposing point of view in the scientific community that feel that the results found via animal experimentation are not useful and, as such, invalidate the need for animal testing. Dr. Aysha Akhtar mentions that reproducing the same results from animal testing in human trials is not assured and even unreliable.