Taking a humane look at cosmetics

Wei Xu and Lei Zhang (2013) claimed China is considering ways to reduce animal testing of cosmetics. The draft stated that cosmetics made from ingredients that have already been tested and classified as safe will be exempt from animal testing. L'Oreal, which recently expanded a factory in Hubei province into its largest production base in the Asia-Pacific region, has developed a Chinese EpiSkin model. It can provide solid technical support for the new EU regulations because it can be used as a replacement for human and animal tissue in some tests and the product has already been certified for use in Europe. However, the methods are still immature in terms of testing new ingredients in cosmetics, especially the methods of testing for chronic diseases. For some ‘special use’ products like hair dyes and sunscreens L’Oreal still need to test on animals to meet the Chinese laws.

Reference

Xu, W and Zhang, L. (2013) ‘Taking a humane look at cosmetics’, China Daily, 20 December, Available at: http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/business/2013-12/20/content_17186590_4.htm (Accessed: 13 February, 2014 )