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Stop botox animal testing!

Botox
Botox is the brand name of one of the products containing the nerve poison botulinum toxin. Similar to words like 'biro' and 'hoover', 'botox' is also commonly used to describe other similar products containing the toxin. The toxin is used for medical, and increasingly, cosmetic applications. A small injection of it causes the facial wrinkles to disappear for several months. But the price for this short term beauty is paid for by the suffering and death of thousands of animals in laboratories. And, because the European Cosmetics Directive does not apply to products that are injected into the skin, the recent animal testing bans are bypassed.

Animal testing
Because the toxin is potentially highly dangerous, each batch is tested before it reaches customers. A notorious procedure called the LD50 test is currently the standard test listed in the European Pharmacopeia, which is a kind of menu for the testing of medicines. The LD50 aims to determine the dose that kills exactly half of the animals used in the test. Manufacturers use the LD50 figure to grade the 'strength' of their products. The toxin is injected into the abdomen of hundreds of mice, resulting in paralysis, impaired vision and respiratory distress; after up to 3 or 4 days of suffering the mice finally die from suffocation unless they are killed just beforehand (as may sometimes happen).

It is estimated that 300,000 mice are subjected worldwide to this cruel death every year. And with the growing popularity of botox products, the number is increasing.

Cruelty-free testing is possible
There are a number of non-animal alternatives and refinements to the LD50 animal test which have been developed. For example, the SNAP-25, developed in the UK, is a molecular biological test which is cheaper and more efficient than the cruel LD50 mouse test.

Manufacturers' alternatives
Each of the four manufacturers of botulinum toxin products say that they have to develop their own alternative which can then only be used by them. If all three manufacturers collaborated on the same alternative it could and should be used instead of the LD50 test. However the companies are working on separate alternatives. As long as they are not prepared to cooperate with each other, the LD50 test will remain the 'standard' test despite its inherent cruelty and unreliability.

The ECEAE campaign
The ECEAE is campaigning to stop animal testing for botox products. We are calling on manufacturers and authorities to co-operate in speeding up the acceptance of animal-free methods and for the removal of the LD50 mouse test from the European Pharmacopeia

You can help!

There are lots of ways you can get involved in the campaign. Go to our Take Action section to see how you can help stop botox animal testing.

Further information

You can find out more about botox, animal experiments and the alternatives here:

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