EU and industries co-operate to phase out animal tests: Commission

Jun 21, 2006, 15:53 GMT

Brussels - The European Commission and cosmetics, chemicals and pharmaceuticals industries on Wednesday presented plans to phase out animal testing for products within the European Union.

Voluntary measures are aimed at 'refining, reducing and replacing animal use to meet regulatory safety requirements,' the Commission said in a statement.

The plan also sets new standards for industries who want to use the label 'not tested on animals.' Companies wishing to do so have to prove that no animals were used to test their products.

The Commission listed Germany's BASF, Bayer and Henkel, US-based giants Johnson & Johnson and Procter & Gamble, pharmaceutics maker Pfizer, French cosmetics firm L'Oreal and consumer products giant Unilever, which have signed up to the plan.

Several industry assocations are also participating, it added.

The plan includes EU-industry co-operation 'in fields such as research, validation of alternative test methods and sharing best practice,' said the Commission, the 25-nation EU's executive arm.

EU member states and industry are moving to meet a 2009 EU law deadline after which most cosmetic products that were tested on animals will be banned within the bloc.

In 2003, the EU banned cosmetics and cosmetic ingredients tested on animals if validated alternatives were available.

The Commission said it has approved 23 alternative non-animal testing methods so far and some 30 others are under evaluation.

New testing technologies could save up to 1.9 million animals and more than 1 billion euros (1.26 billion dollars) over a period of eleven years, according to Commission estimates.