2011

October 13th, 2011

Steigenberger Insel-Hotel, Konstanz, Germany

CAAT-Europe invites to the second in a series of CAAT-Europe Information Days on specific topics of interest. The focus is on the scientific state of the art, challenges and opportunities for testing complex toxicological hazards without animals. This reflects the ongoing development of new strategies for chemicals and cosmetic ingredients safety testing in Europe and US.

The cosmetic industry is characterized by quick product exchange with 22,000 new products released world-wide each year and by the continuously growing multi-billion global market.Therefore, these intercontinental companies have to fulfill different requirements of different regulatory bodies.The EU legislation on cosmetics from 2003 introduced with the 7th amendment a complete ban on animal testing of finished cosmetic products and ingredients with a number of deadlines. Currently, the marketing ban of animal testing for the systemic toxicity testing of cosmetic products in Europe is foreseen 2013, with a possibility for postponing the deadline.

In fact, a recent report by the European Commission shows lack of sufficient valid alternative methods. At the same time, prompted by the European REACH legislation and similar attempts in the US to address the safety of existing chemicals, needs to improve predictive value for humans, costs and throughput lead to programs trying to revamp the toxicological toolbox. The ToxCast Program of the US EPA is an example of a promising approach to address these questions. It is time to bring these different forces together, to develop a scientific roadmap to modernize safety assessments of substances.

The info day will show some developments of functional human-relevant alternative methods for systemic toxicity, such as repeat dose toxicity (chronic toxicity) and carcinogenicity. The future of toxicity testing and consumer protection goes hand-in-hand with the technical evolution the automation, cell and tissue based assays, identified pathways of toxicity and modern measurement technologies as well as data analysis. This Information day aims to present the emerging roadmap for toxicity testing, in particular for safety testing of cosmetics, which will be presented by key experts from academia, industry and the field of animal welfare.

Speakers will include representatives from:

• Regulatory Authorities
• Multinational Cosmetic Companies
• Academia
• Animal Welfare Organizations
• Presentations will be followed by a discussion period focused on addressing your individual questions.