In June 1989 Avon became the first major cosmetics manufacturer to
permanently stop using animals in the safely testing of its products.
Avon do not test ingredients on animals nor do they ask others to test on their behalf.
All research and development of new products is carried out by our US parent
company Avon Product Incorporated, one of the first major US cosmetic
companies to open an in-house cell culture facility dedicated to the
development of in-vitro alternatives to animal tests,
where test tubes experiments are conducted on microscopic groups
of cells grown in the laboratory.
The company has completed the largest evaluation of an in-vitro alternative
published to date.
Avon Products Incorporated are committed to doing all they can to ensure
that advances will be made in which will lead to the completed eradication of
the use of animals to substantiate product and ingredient safety.
We continue to fund biomedical research by organisations such as FRAME
(Fund for the Replacement of Animals in Medical Experiments) in the UK and
CAAT (National Centre for Alternatives to Animal Testing) at the Johns
Hopkins University in the USA.
We also share the results of our activity in the field of alternatives openly
with other manufacturers in our industry.
Avon.s safety evaluation has its foundation in an extensive computerised data
base containing historical data on products that Avon has developed over the
years, together with data concerning all ingredients used.
We use a number of non-animal alternative tests for irritancy together with
advanced human patch tests.
Avon.s commitment to non-animal alternatives in the field of product safety and
evaluation has been recognised by a majoraward from one of the world.s leading centre in this field.
The commendation,one of only two presented in 1993, came from the National Centre for
Alternatives to Animal Testing at Johns Hopkins University in America.
It acknowledges Avon.s leading role in utilising and funding non-animal testing
alternatives.
