MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Brazil bans cosmetics testing on animals

Experiments with animals are already not allowed in the European Union

The Brazilian Government of President Luiz Inácio Lula Da Silva has banned the use of animals in cosmetics and perfume research. The measure also applies to products with proven safety and efficacy, Agencia Brasil reported Wednesday.

 Vertebrate animals, such as dogs, cats and rats, can no longer be used in research for the development and quality control of personal care products, cosmetics, and perfumes, as per a resolution published in the Diário Oficial da União (Official Gazette) Wednesday by the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation's National Council for the Control of Animal Experimentation (Concea).

 The measure applies to the tests of products already featuring 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 the Concea Coordinator Katia de Angelis, there are 40 methods recognized by the council.

 “We have recognized methods that involve dermal toxicity with artificial skin, eye irritation with [an] artificial cornea. This means that by using these alternative methods we can maintain our autonomy to study new ingredients, [on] products from our Amazonian biodiversity, for example, with the possibility of not using animals or eventually using a very small number of animals,” she explains.

 De Angelis also highlighted that this resolution puts Brazil in line with international legislation on the subject. In the European Union, for example, animal testing is already forbidden.

 Brazilian Confederation of Animal Protection President Carolina Mourão believes the ban will have a positive impact on animal protection. “This measure, although not the end of the use of animals for all types of tests that Brazil embraces, saves an enormous number of lives of all types of animals we know, from dogs, horses, oxen, and birds.”

 The resolution already in effect was approved in December last year at a Concea meeting and signed on Feb. 28 by Science, Technology, and Innovation Minister Luciana Santos. (Source: Agencia Brasil)