If you are as passionate about animal welfare and constantly look for beauty products that are cruelty-free or have the trusty Leaping Bunny on them, then listen up. You might soon have more options of beauty products to choose from. There are new efforts to stop the use of animals in cosmetic testing.
Published recently in the journal Chemical Research in Toxicology, scientists have found a new, highly accurate non-animal test for certain skin-sensitizers. This is important, as product ingredients, especially those that go on to sensitive areas of the skin and scalp, should be tested for immunotoxicity before being released into the market.
Researches say that the development of a cell-based alternative test using skin cells grown in the laboratory can assess ingredients that might cause possible allergic reactions. Assessment of this type of testing found that it could correctly identify sensitizers and that this approach could be “extremely valuable” in revealing the interaction of skin cells with sensitizers, the scientists say. The best part? This discovery could make animal testing obsolete, which is good timing considering the European Union just recently banned the sale of beauty products tested on animals in all European countries.
How important are cruelty-free cosmetics to you?
