Testing cosmetics without using animals

The EU ban on animal testing for cosmetics affects all beauty and personal care products, from make-up to soap and toothpaste. Therefore, there is a need for new toxicity testing methods for cosmetics that don't use animals.

With EU funding, the project NOTOX (Predicting long-term toxic effects using computer models based on systems characterization of organotypic cultures) aims to develop novel methods based on cell culture and computer modelling to replace animal testing for long-term toxicity testing. The NOTOX project will establish a range of experimental and computational methods to predict toxicity of cosmetic or any other compounds in humans.

NOTOX has already established a system to cultivate 3D 'organs' to mimic the human liver, called HepaRG. Using this cellular model, researchers have completed the first toxicity tests, monitoring biological and structural changes to the liver cells.

The project has also coupled the HepaRG model with other cell types to more accurately mimic a biological system. Further work to improve the accuracy of HepaRG focuses on the 3D tissue structure at the cellular level.

NOTOX has also collected data on adverse outcomes from a large number of experimental systems. This data is incorporated into models of long-term toxicity, along with data from various genomic, proteomic and transcriptomic analyses.

Developing alternative methods for cosmetics safety testing will have a major impact on the cosmetic, chemical and pharmaceutical industries. Most importantly, it heralds the end of inhumane animal testing in the cosmetics industry.