Do You Think Animal Testing Of Cosmetics Should Be Allowed?

Animal Testing & Cosmetics

Consumers and manufacturers sometimes ask about the use of animals for testing cosmetics. The post-obit information addresses the legal requirement for cosmetic safety and FDA policy on developing culling methods.

FDA is responsible for assuring that cosmetics are safe and properly labeled. This mission is accomplished through enforcement of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FD&C Act), related statutes, and regulations promulgated under these laws.

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. Nonetheless, the agency has consistently advised corrective manufacturers to employ whatever testing is advisable 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.

Animal testing by manufacturers seeking to market place new products may be used to establish product rubber. In some cases, after considering available alternatives, companies may determine that animal testing is necessary to assure the safe of a product or ingredient. FDA supports and adheres to the provisions of applicative laws, regulations, and policies governing animate being testing, including the Animal Welfare Act and the Public Wellness Service Policy of Humane Intendance and Use of Laboratory Animals. Moreover, in all cases where animal testing is used, FDA advocates that research and testing derive the maximum corporeality of useful scientific information from the minimum number of animals and employ the almost humane methods available within the limits of scientific capability.

Nosotros also believe that prior to apply of animals, consideration should exist given to the use of scientifically valid alternative methods to whole-animal testing. In 1997, FDA joined with thirteen other Federal agencies in forming the Interagency Coordinating Committee on the Validation of Alternative Methods (ICCVAM). ICCVAM and its supporting eye, the National Toxicology Plan Interagency Heart for the Evaluation of Alternative Toxicological Methods (NICEATM), coordinate the development, validation, acceptance, and harmonization of alternative toxicological exam methods throughout the U.S. Federal Government. To acquire more, visit the ICCVAM and NICEATM websites.

FDA supports the development and use of alternatives to whole-creature testing also as adherence to the near humane methods bachelor within the limits of scientific capability when animals are used for testing the safety of cosmetic products. We will continue to be a stiff abet of methodologies for the refinement, reduction, and replacement of creature tests with culling methodologies that do not employ the employ of animals.

More Resources from FDA:

"Cruelty Costless-Not Tested on Animals" Label Claims
FDA Authority Over Cosmetics

Resources from Other U.Southward. Government Agencies:

Animal Welfare Act
National Toxicology Program--Interagency Coordinating Commission on the Validation of Alternative Exam Methods (NTP-ICCVAM)
Public Wellness Service Policy on Humane Care and Use of Laboratory Animals

Resources from the International Cooperation on Cosmetics Regulation (ICCR):

ICCR reports on nanotechnology, trace contaminants, safety assessment, and alternatives to animal testing: By clicking on this link, yous will be leaving the FDA.GOV website and going to the ICCR website, where you volition find the reports on these topics.