As the cosmetics industry strives to develop safer and more efficient alternative methods to animal testing, UK scientists have found a way to isolate human cells taken from skin samples and grow them in their lab to carry out irritation tests.

‘XCellR8’ researchers are utilising scaffolds of cells from human skin donated by plastic surgery patients to determine the health implications of cosmetic formulations.

In a conversation with Reuters, lead scientist, Carol Treasure revealed that the samples are almost identical to working with real skin on the body and on incubating them with cosmetics formulas they can look at how much damage is being done to the skin over time.

According to Treasure, while human cell-based alternative test methods are not ‘new’, many still use rat liver extract, bovine or horse serum.

"The culture of human cells [may] still require the use of animal blood-derived components or liver extract. We've eradicated all of those components and so we have a truly animal free testing lab," Treasure informed Reuters.

XCellR8 has replaced these components with a human serum and demonstrated that the method meets regulatory guidelines.

Animal testing ban

March 11, 2013 officially marked the day of the ban on the sale of animal-tested cosmetics in Europe.

While testing cosmetics on animals had been banned across the EU since 2009, retailers could still sell cosmetics containing ingredients that had been animal-tested in other countries.

EU Commissioner for Health and Consumer Policy, Tonio Borg affirmed his commitment to the sales ban on assuming the role in 2012.

Since then, the move has prompted animal rights organizations to work in the US, Asia, Canada, Brazil and beyond to encourage other countries to follow Europe’s lead.

Cosmetics Design Europe, (21/07/2016)