Response to Government cosmetic surgery plan

New restrictions on injectable anti-wrinkle treatments do not go far enough

FRAME (Fund for the Replacement of Animals in Medical Experiments) is concerned that the latest rulings over cosmetic surgery do not address the way substances such as Botox, and other injectable wrinkle treatments, are tested.

Every batch of the poison used for these treatments has to be tested on animals to establish its strength. Each year, thousands of mice die a slow and painful death, just so that humans can have smooth faces.

The substance used is a toxin produced by a bacterium called Clostridium botulinum. The toxin is one of the most powerful poisons known but, because it has a natural source, it is impossible to know how strong it is without tests.

Batches are tested by injecting them into mice until the animals are paralysed and most die of suffocation.

FRAME supports genuine medical uses for the toxin such as treatment of squints but believes all cosmetic uses should be stopped until a humane test method can be found.

Reclassifying the treatments as minor surgery only serves to exacerbate the problem. FRAME believes that, if the substance is to be used for cosmetic purposes, it should be subject to the same restrictions that other cosmetics are. Testing cosmetic substances such as Botox on animals should not be allowed.

FRAME

Fund for the Replacement of Animals in Medical Experiments

Anne Jeffery  (Communications organiser) 

96-98 North Sherwood Street
Nottingham
NG1 4EE

anne@frame.org.uk 

0115 958 4740 

FRAME is the Fund for the Replacement of Animals in Medical Experiments.

It promotes the replacement of laboratory animals with non-animal methods, through better science. 

Its ultimate aim is the elimination of the need to use laboratory animals in any kind of scientific or medical procedures. 

Tags: