Europeans To Fund Animal Testing Alternative Research

The European Commission and the European cosmetic industry presented their joint financial effort for research into alternative safety testing methods at the VII World Congress on Alternatives and Animal Use in the Life Sciences in Rome last week.

The presentation follows the European Commission’s €25 million call for proposals last month in this field and the European cosmetic industry, represented by the European Cosmetics Association (Colipa), committed to match the funds. As a result, up to €50 million will be allocated to research projects laying the scientific foundation for future safety testing methods with a higher predictive value, and that will be faster and cheaper than animal tests.

“We are proud of this first-of-its-kind cooperation between industry and the European Commission. It proves our determination to avoid the use of animals in research while increasing the safety of products for consumers,” said EU Commissioner for Science and Research Janez Potočnik and Vice-President Günter Verheugen in a joint statement. “Faster, cheaper and more reliable alternative methods will both contribute to this increased safety and strengthen the competitiveness of the European industry. Pooling resources with private partners like the cosmetic industry is crucial to finance the long-term cutting-edge research required to meet these challenges.”

Added Bertil Heerink, director-general of Colipa, “For over 20 years, the cosmetic industry has been committed to the elimination of the use of animals for safety testing. Our industry welcomes the opportunity to contribute funding to this initiative, which has a key role to play in the process towards full replacement of animal safety tests in the scientifically complex area of systemic toxicity.”

The European Commission is seeking proposals for research projects involving a wide range of scientific partners across Europe and focusing on the following topics.

• development of organ-simulating devices;
• use of human-based target cells;
• definition of new toxicological endpoints and intermediate markers
• computational modelling techniques
• exploitation of approaches developed in systems biology; and
• integrated data analysis and scientific services.

It should be noted that:

• Only proposals not involving tests on living animals are eligible for funding.
• The results of the projects may not only benefit the cosmetic industry but also the pharmaceutical and chemical industry and other relevant sectors.

How research will be funded

Through the co-operation between the European Commission and Colipa, the projects selected can be funded up to 100% of their total eligible costs.