Why do makeup companies test on animals? Are they using dangerous chemicals? What animals do they mostly use?
In: 2
From a pharmacist’s prospective though cosmetics is also applicable:
We perform animal testing to establish safety of a product, for drugs we use some in-vitro testing first (experiments that do not use animals) first such as skin grafts, eye models and check for toxicity if any. Then we move into animal models to verify the toxicologic data we got from in-vitro study.
We can’t simply not test for toxicity since your product would not be approved by your local food and drug administration, FDA, though usually you hear is bad things about them in the new, is very strict when it comes to new products.
However, unless your makeup contains new ingredients such as new colorants or dyes, your formulation would most likely use already established ingredients that may be included in the GRAS list – “Generally Regarded as Safe”, the ingredients in the list need not prove their safety since from the name itself, regarded as safe. It would also be more economical for the makeup company to not perform safety studies so makeup companies would now start to stray away from new ingredients unless they really need to.
In terms of animal models the most common test model for skin toxicity is Rabbits. You may search “Draize Eye and Skin Irritation Test” (Though it may be very graphic for some)
References:[https://www.fda.gov/cosmetics/cosmetics-laws-regulations/fda-authority-over-cosmetics-how-cosmetics-are-not-fda-approved-are-fda-regulated](https://www.fda.gov/cosmetics/cosmetics-laws-regulations/fda-authority-over-cosmetics-how-cosmetics-are-not-fda-approved-are-fda-regulated)
GRAS Database – [https://www.cfsanappsexternal.fda.gov/scripts/fdcc/?set=SCOGS](https://www.cfsanappsexternal.fda.gov/scripts/fdcc/?set=SCOGS)
Latest Answers