Tens of thousands of mice are still being killed for botox! One Voice is demanding a ban on animal testing.

Botulinum toxin (called ‘botox’) is a neurotoxin used for cosmetic purposes such as eliminating facial wrinkles, but also in the field of medical applications. Each batch is tested on mice in a test called ‘LD50’. Different doses of this substance are injected into the abdomens of groups of mice in order to determine from what quantity half of the animals die. The poison paralyses the respiratory muscles and the mice die by suffocation while they are fully conscious. In 2011, the American manufacturer Allergan received approval for their cell-based test. Due to continuing protests from the ECEAE and other animal protection associations, the Merz and Ipsen companies also replaced the majority of their tests on animals, but this fight is not over.

Muriel Arnal, President of One Voice, stated:

Non-technical summaries accessible to the public have shown that botox tests carried out on 22,440 mice have been approved by Germany in 2021. In 2019, 46,800 mice (this figure could be as high as 150,000 in previous years!) were used in botox tests in Germany alone. In 2019 and 2020, projects involving the use of botulinum toxin on rodents and birds were approved in France to study different pathologies in the muscles, or pain, or to model avian botulism. In Europe, Ireland has been the country that practices these tests the most for a long time. The official statistics from 2020 reveal that 100,848 mice were subjected to what they call batch potency tests, very likely for botox. 92,887 mice were killed in this way in 2019, 138,846 in 2018, and 192,015 in 2017. The reduction is therefore visible but, in the eyes of the entirety of the members of our coalition, whatever the number of mice sacrificed is, it is unacceptable.

The European Pharmacopoeia, which regulates batch tests of botox-based products, authorises a certain number of tests on animals but also the famous LD50 test on mice. The ECEAE urgently requests the EDQM regulatory authority to abolish the Pharmacopoeia to put an end to the atrocious suffering that it inflicts on animals.

Each year at the beginning of July, our coalition organises an Action Day against botox tests carried out on animals to mark the first regulatory approval, in 2011, of an ethical cell-based botox test.

The ECEAE also supports the ‘Save Cruelty Free Cosmetics’ European Citizens’ Initiative aiming to progressively eliminate animal testing in its entirety. A million signatures must be collected between now and 31 August so that the European Commission will act. We are counting on you!

Translated from the French by Joely Justice