Beauty brands pressure EU over animal testing
The Humane Society International is behind an initiative to lobby the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) and its board of appeal to not undermine EU animal testing regulations.
The organisation has the backing of leading beauty giants, including Unilever, Procter & Gamble, Avon and L’Oréal, who have all signed an open statement conveying the belief that the ECHA is undermining the EU animal testing ban by requiring unnecessary animal data despite there being a legal obligation to promote animal-free testing practices.
In an official statement made by the Humane Society-led Animal-Free Safety Assessment Collaboration, the organisation claimed that the ECHA’s requirements were compromising this legal obligation, a claim that the ECHA has denied.
“The testing is said to fulfil the requirements of the Registration, Evaluation and Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH) Regulation to ensure occupational safety for workers in chemical manufacturing plants,” the statement reads.
“In reality, these data demands are to ensure ECHA has an administratively complete set of data for hazard classification and labelling, regardless of whether additional data are in fact needed to ensure worker protection. Further, lessons learned in animal-free safety assessment of cosmetics over many years can be readily applied to occupational safety assessment of ingredients without compromising human safety,”
The move to lobby the ECHA was triggered when German ingredients player Symrise lost an appeal to the ECHA requiring it to carry out several toxicity tests on animal vertebrae in August of this year.
Symrise has followed the decision up with two actions of annulment against the ECHA appeals board, aiming to overturn the decision.
University of Memphis launches biotech skincare start-up
Nuvelus, a biotech skincare start-up, is the first business to come out of the University of Memphis FedEx Institute of Technology and Epicenter’s joint Patents2Products (P2P) Programme.
The new business forms part of a hub that will promote a series of start-up businesses focused on science and technology innovation.
Nuvelus is aiming to heal and transform damaged skin caused by inflammation, disease and environmental hazards using advanced biotechnology methods.
The start-up’s patent-pending technology uses a topical approach to deliver ingredients required to enable skin rejuvenation, working directly in the immune system to cultivate skin renewal and repair at a cellular level.
Ultimately, the technology will be used for the treatment of a wide variety of skin conditions, including psoriasis, rosacea, eczema, acne and sunburn.
“We believe improved skincare therapy can promote rapid healing of damaged skin, improving quality of life, and reducing the anxiety and stress associated from visible marks on your body and face,” said Dr Ryan Hughes, Founder and CEO of Nuvelus.
“Our solution supplants the age-old treatment of topical steroids and replaces it with a product that is safer, more effective and better suited to treat unwanted skin abnormalities. We are a company that believes treating the skin should be more than just skin deep.”
L’Oréal unveils AI lipstick device
The France-based multinational has unveiled Perso, an AI-powered at-home beauty device aimed at enhancing skincare.
The device stands at 6.5 inches and weighs less than 1lb, making it highly flexible in its streamlined four-step process to deliver personalised skincare treatments over time.
The device works by using a patented motorised cartridge system that creates personalised skincare in four clear steps:
- Personal skin analysis – with the use of the Perso mobile app.
- Environmental assessment – relying on Breezometer geo-location data.
- Product preference – programmed by the user into the app.
- Custom formulation dispensing – the personal data is used to dispense a customised treatment.
“Building on our deep scientific heritage and leadership in innovation, L’Oréal is once again leveraging advanced technology to create smart beauty products and services that answer the needs of our consumers and offer them near-limitless personalization and precision,” said Nicolas Hieronimus, L’Oréal’s Deputy Chief Executive Officer.
“We are committed to making L’Oréal the leader in Beauty Tech – and Perso is the next step in that exciting journey.”
Amyris announces clean beauty collaboration
Amyris has forged an agreement with Rosie Huntington-Whiteley on the creation of a brand new clean beauty brand and an ongoing business partnership.
Huntington-Whiteley is a model turned businesswoman and founder of beauty commerce platform Rose Inc, and the partnership will explore synergies related to Amyris expertise in sustainable and natural ingredients and beauty brands.
Indeed, Amyris already has a strong footprint in the clean beauty category with its Biossance skincare and Pipette baby and mother care brands, a position it wants to build on with the new partnership.
No firm details have been released about what the beauty line will look like, but the collaboration will be led by Caroline Hadfield, CEO of Clean Beauty Collaborative, which will result in the launch onto the market of the first product lines by the third quarter in 2021.
“The formation of Clean Beauty Collaborative demonstrates Amyris’ strong commitment to continuous innovation of the clean beauty category,” said John Melo, President and Chief Executive Officer of Amyris.
“We believe cosmetics to be the next opportunity for us to transform to clean and we are very excited to have Caroline lead the creation of her third brand in the Amyris family of direct-to-consumer beauty.”
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