Conference explores animal testing alternatives
month to highlight the latest advances in alternatives to the
testing of animals on cosmetic and pharmaceutical products.
Entitled 'Animal Tests and Alternative Methods' it will be held on November 7th and is considered to be complementary to the 5th World Congress on Alternatives & Animal Use in Life Sciences, held in Berlin at the end of August and mainly focused on scientific issues.
The Brussels conference will focus on policy issues facing animal welfare organisations and academia, as well as both the European and international industries.
The conference falls in line with the demands made by the European Union to bring about a complete ban on the testing of cosmetic ingredients. A total ban on the testing of cosmetic products on animals was brought about on September 11, 2004.
Europe has been making inroads into the ban on ingredients testing on animals, but still there is no definite dates stipulating when it will be introduced. The Commission is hoping this will be possible by 2007 or 2008, but a lot of works remains to be done in order to ensure this aim.
According to the organisers, the object of the conference is to demonstrate that the European Union keeps animal welfare high on the political agenda and remains in the lead for animal protection. It also wants to illustrate industry's approach to promote active research in the field and the new methods that are being developed to this end.
Additionally it will show how progress has been made in the area of alternative methods to animal tests at EU and international level; as well as to identify further possibilities to improve development and validation of alternative methods.
The conference will be held in the European Parliament buildings and the closing date for registration will be October 26th. For further details contact European Commission for Enterprise and Industry.
The conference programme will be a full day which will include sections focusing on Animal Welfare and European Action as well as Risk Assessment and Alternative Methods, backed up by a round table which will discuss the proceedings and 'the way forward.'
