Compassionate cosmetics: once an accepted part of the beauty industry, animal testing is becoming a thing of the past.

Have you ever seen a rabbit wearing rouge? Or a mouse in mascara? Of course not. Then why has the cosmetics industry traditionally tested its personal-care products on animals? Conventional wisdom has maintained that animal testing identifies substances that can be harmful to humans, and therefore makes products safer. But is this really the case?

"Many regulators feel more comfortable with animal tests--even with tests that are known to be unreliable and of questionable relevance," says Michael Balls, head of the European Centre for the Validation of Alternative Methods in Ispra, Varese, Italy. The questionability Balls refers to arises because the skin, hair and eyes of an animal can react quite differently from those of a human--especially in tests where animals receive extremely large doses applied over a long duration. And several studies conducted during the past 30 years have indicated that animal testing simply does not accurately predict human responses.

animal alternatives

As the validity of animal testing falls further into question, interest in alternative testing methods is on the rise. These include cell cultures, eye bank corneas and sophisticated computer and mathematical models. Statisticians and epidemiologists also can judge safety by analyzing clinical surveys, human volunteers, case studies, autopsy reports, statistical analyses and environmental factors related to human disease. As technology advances, these types of tests are becoming less expensive and often produce ranch faster results than traditional animal testing.

The United States Department of Transportation, Consumer Product Safety Commission and Food and Drug Administration (FDA), among others, have approved the use of Corrositex, a protein membrane designed to function like skin. It can replace rabbit skin tests with results available in just a few hours at a low cost of $100 per test--compared to the 21-day, $1,000 price tag of a single Draize rabbit test, a traditional method of animal testing.

Another test, the Irritation Assay System, also mimics the reaction of human skin to more than 5,000 different materials. And a software package called TOPKAT--which monitors changes in electrical resistance in thin layers of cells grown on a membrane--is helping the FDA, the Environmental Protection Agency and the US Army identify compounds that might cause human skin and eye irritation.

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