We may not meet proposed animal testing ban, but progress IS being made

Fabio Franchina, president, and Bertil Heerink, director-general, welcomed the cameras to Cosmetic Europe's new headquarters in Brussels to explain that whilst the industry may not meet the proposed 2013 ban, progress is being made.

Cosmetics Europe recently announced it had secured an additional €8m in funding for the research programme aimed at finding viable alternatives to testing cosmetic ingredients on animals.

The additional funding comes on top of the €50m programme that the European Commission and Cosmetics Europe have jointly invested in the SEURAT-1 (Safety Evaluation Ultimatly Replacing Animal Testing) initiative, which was originally set up as a five-year programme.

And Franchina stressed that although it is vital to find alternatives to animal testing in cosmetics, it may not be possible to put a definite time frame in this, and that industry should be careful as to not lose innovation.

“You cannot dictate science by the clock,”​ added Heerink. “We need to find a balance so that we keep the capacity to innovate as well.”​

Last week we brought you our first special report from the Cosmetics Europe headquarters discussing the organisations move, name change and outlook on the industry​.

Stay tuned for the latest in the series next week as Cosmetics Europe answer questions on other key segments of the industry.