Animal testing ban comes into force in Europe

11 March, 2009

The need to seek alternative methods of safety testing in order to eradicate animal testing in the EU has seen the cosmetics industry work alongside the European Commission in the European Partnership for Alternatives to Animal Testing (EPAA), scientists and stakeholders to reach the common goal.

The first ban prohibits any further testing on animals to assess the safety of ingredients, while the second ban prohibits the sale of cosmetics products that contain ingredients tested on animals. Due to the complexity of the scientific progress needed to create alternative safety methods to assess these ingredients, this ban is progressive and will not be utterly enforced until March 2013 with the EC assessing the level of progress on the matter in 2011.