Brazil prohibits use of animals in cosmetics and perfume research

BRASILIA. KAZINFORM A new resolution adopted by the National Council for the Control of Animal Experimentation (Concea), a collegiate of the Ministry of Science, Technology, and Innovation, prohibits the use of vertebrate animals, such as dogs and rats in research for the development and quality control of personal care products, cosmetics, and perfumes.

The measure came into force on Wednesday (Mar. 1) and it applies even for tests of products that already have in the formula components with proven safety and efficacy. For products with new formulas, without proven safety or efficacy, the standard requires the use of alternative research methods. According to Concea’s coordinator Katia de Angelis there are 40 methods recognized by the council, Agencia Brasil reports.

«We have recognized methods that involve dermal toxicity with artificial skin, eye irritation with artificial cornea. This allows us, by using these alternative methods, to maintain our autonomy to study new ingredients, products from our Amazonian biodiversity, for example, with the possibility of not using animals at all, or using a very small number of them,» she explains.

Katia de Angelis also points out that this resolution is a step forward that puts Brazil in line with international legislation on the subject. In the European Union, for example, animal testing is prohibited.

For the head of the Brazilian Confederation of Animal Protection, Carolina Mourão, «although it is not the end of the use of animals for all types of tests that Brazil embraces, the ban saves an enormous number of lives of all types of animals we know, such as dogs, horses, oxen, and birds.»