L'Oreal Teams With the EPA to End Cosmetic Testing on Animals

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L'Oreal Donates $1.2 Million to the EPA to Develop a Computer Model That Will Save Bunnies and Other Animals From Cruel Testing

They may seem like unlikely bedfellows, but bravo to the potential results of this partnership: Cosmetics giant L'Oreal has donated $1.2 million to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency so the EPA can develop a computer model that will eventually end cosmetics testing on animals.

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L'Oreal announced the partnership in San Francisco on Monday, and, if everything goes according to plan, cruel cosmetics testing on animals will be a thing of the past, the San Francisco Chronicle reports.

"Using state-of-the art methods, we hope to show that products can be proven safe for the consumer without the use of animals," regional EPA administrator Jared Blumenfeld said.

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The new system -- named ToxCast -- uses mathematical algorithms and computer tests to check the toxicity of cosmetic chemicals for humans, but, for now, researchers have to use previous animal testing results to determine the computer test's accuracy.

L'Oreal has agreed to give the EPA the animal testing results for 20 chemicals so the EPA testers can calibrate their computer methods.

Though the partnership is good news for the future, the director of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals says L'Oreal and other makeup companies need to do a lot more.

"Animals' lives are worth more than hair color and another shade of lipstick," PETA director Jessica Sandler said. "There's hundreds of companies that have managed to market their products without animal testing (and) their products are safer."