Animals and Research

I was disappointed to see that The Scientist published the misrepresentative view of animal experimentation expressed in the letter by Melissa Goldman [Feb. 18, 1991, page 12]. It should be noted that both the California Medical Association and the American Medical Association have voted to censure the group Goldman represents, Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, for misrepresentation.

Goldman claims that leading cosmetics companies have stopped using toxicity testing in animals, presumably because animal testing is ineffective. This claim is misleading. Under Food and Drug Administration regulations, companies that do not use laboratory animal testing, or whose suppliers do not, won't be able to introduce products with innovative ingredients unless their packaging conspicuously states: "Warning: The safety of this product has not been determined." However, most existing ingredients used in the cosmetics industry have been tested on animals by someone, somewhere, at some time. Companies can use these pretested ingredients without...