Before the sale and marketing of cosmetic products, manufacturers and distributors must ensure they are safe for use by humans. There is a legal obligation to fulfill in terms of adherence to certain safety and toxicity regulations.
These regulations have led to a need for alternative non-animal-based cosmetic testing methods to be developed.
In the past, the safety and toxicity of cosmetic products and their ingredients were mainly tested on animals, however, in recent years this has changed. Animals are no longer the main means for cosmetic testing due to ethical, efficiency and economic reasons.
There have been calls to stop cosmetic testing on animals for several years, and as technology develops the use of alternative models has become possible.
Using alternative models is often more efficient than testing on animals, as a result can be obtained in a much shorter time. Accuracy also plays a part in using alternative models, as animals do not necessarily have the same architecture as the human body.
Testing on alternative models is also cheaper than testing on live animals, as the cost of breeding, feeding, housing and carrying out the tests is often lower.
Zebrafish larvae are considered an in vitro assay when they are under 5 days post-fertilization. Thanks to their ability to breed quickly and produce hundreds of larvae at one time, Zebrafish are a cost-effective choice for cosmetic testing. Of particular note is nanotoxicity testing on skincare products due to damage from the harmful rays of the sun.
Skin sensitivity and similar tests are today often carried out on human volunteers, which is beneficial as an animal’s skin is often not a replica of human skin type. These tests are used to establish whether a product can be used for anti-ageing, brightening, skincare, cellulite reduction, hydration etc.
Most cosmetics are designed to treat the skin’s surface, but some potentially harmful ingredients can penetrate the skin. Computer model testing has advanced significantly over the past two decades and has been successfully implemented in many fields of research, including cosmetics. Advanced algorithms can be used to predict where certain chemicals contained in cosmetics may end up in the body, as well as their potential toxicity and efficacy.
In vitro testing. This testing method uses human cell cultures that are grown in laboratories specifically for testing. Virtually every human cell can be grown in this way. The method allows scientists to reconstruct the epidermis for testing. Another type of in vitro testing is the use of human cells and tissue donated by volunteers who have undergone cosmetic surgery, transplants or biopsies. More recently, an alternative source of cells may come from induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) which can also be derived to the desired cell type for testing these compounds.
The number of animals used in research has increased with the advancement of research and development in cosmetics. Every year, millions of experimental animals are used all over the world. The pain, distress and death experienced by the animals during scientific experiments have been a debating issue for a long time. Besides the major concern of ethics, there are few more disadvantages of animal experimentation like requirement of skilled manpower, time consuming protocols and high cost. Various alternatives to animal testing were proposed to overcome the drawbacks associated with animal experiments and avoid the unethical procedures.
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