EU updates cosmetic testing guide

The EU's scientific committee on consumer products (SCCP) has issued its latest guidance notes on the testing of cosmetics ingredients and evaluating their safety. The first overhaul of these detailed guidelines since 2003, they are comprehensive, offering information on toxicity studies, categorising ingredients, safety margins, assessments of finished products and other key issues.

The updated guide includes information on alternative safety testing methods and the EU's full 3R strategy - refinement, reduction and replacement. The notes' introduction stresses that despite the inclusion of standardised procedures, it “should not be seen as a checklist”, and that cosmetic safety tests “remains a scientific exercise… performed on a case-by-case basis”.