The Future of Testing is Humane | MatTek Life Sciences

Creating the Future of Health with Better Science

1938

The United States Food, Drug & Cosmetic Act is signed into law, requiring some safety substantiation of cosmetic products. This compels companies to begin testing their products on animals.

1944

Draize Irritancy Tests, which require directly exposing animals’ eyes and skin to chemicals, are developed. Considered for decades to be the gold standard for cosmetic safety assessments, these tests cause extensive animal suffering.

1991

The European Centre for the Validation of Alternative Methods is established to oversee the development and acceptance of alternative test methods that reduce, refine and replace the use of animals.

1993

MatTek creates EpiDerm, the original lab-grown human skin, as a functional replacement for the Draize Rabbit Skin Test

1996

Animal protection groups band together to form the Coalition for Consumer Information on Cosmetics. The coalition manages the Leaping Bunny cruelty-free certification program in the United States and Canada.

2009

The European Union officially bans the testing of cosmetics ingredients on animals.

2006-2010

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) approves non-animal test methods.

2006 Skin Corrosivity

2009 Eye Irritation

2010 Skin Irritation

2021

APRIL
FDA Modernization Act introduced in US House of Representatives

JUNE
Skin Allergy and Phototoxicity
OECD Approval

DECEMBER
The federal Humane Cosmetics Act, legislation to prohibit cosmetics animal testing and the sale of animal-tested cosmetics, is reintroduced in the U.S.

2022

DECEMBER
The FDA Modernization Act 2.0 was passed and signed into law by President Biden. This bill, H.R. 2565 / S.2952, allows pharmaceutical scientists to develop new products using non-animal models including cell-based assays, organ chips and micro physiological systems, sophisticated computer modeling, and other human biology-based test methods.

US States with Bans on the Sale of Animal-Tested Cosmetics

Click around the map to see if your home state has banned the sale of animal-tested cosmetics.
Don’t forget to check back and watch the map continue to grow blue!

The Humane Society of The United States, 2022

Did You Know?

Research

More than 90% of research, often involving animals fails to lead to human treatments.

Kretzer, M. (2018, January 31). Experiments on Animals Fail 90% of the Time. Why Are They Still Done?

Trial

95% of new drugs fail in human clinical trials

Kretzer, M. (2018, January 31). Experiments on Animals Fail 90% of the Time. Why Are They Still Done?

Spending

The NIH spends approximately $19 billion annually on experiments using animals, nearly half its budget.

Waldman E. (2022, February 11). Trailblazing Congressional Letter Urges NIH to Phase Out Experiments on Animals.

Saving

In 2021, 95,000 laboratory animals were saved with the use of MatTek lab-grown tissues alone.

MatTek Life Sciences. (December 2021)

Trusted by over 500,000 scientists all over the world

The Flaws and Human Harms of Animal Experimentation

Nonhuman animal (“animal”) experimentation is typically defended by arguments that it is reliable, that animals provide sufficiently good models of human biology and diseases to yield relevant information, and that, consequently, its use provides major human health benefits. I demonstrate that a growing body of scientific literature critically assessing the validity of animal experimentation generally (and animal modeling specifically) raises important concerns about its reliability and predictive value for human outcomes and for understanding human physiology. The unreliability of animal experimentation across a wide range of areas undermines scientific arguments in favor of the practice.

Akhtar A. The flaws and human harms of animal experimentation. Camb Q Healthc Ethics. 2015 Oct;24(4):407-19. doi: 10.1017/S0963180115000079. PMID: 26364776; PMCID: PMC4594046.

Non-Animal Methods Available

The PETA International Science Consortium Ltd. helped fund the development of MatTek Life Sciences’ EpiAlveolar, a first-of-its-kind 3-dimensional model of the deepest part of the human lung. The model, composed of human cells, can be used to study the effects of inhaling different kinds of chemicals, pathogens, and (e-)cigarette smoke.

PETA, Alternatives to Animal Testing

How the three Rs principles led to 3-D tissue success!

First discussed in detail by W.M.S. Russell and R.L. Burch 50 years ago in their book, The Principles of Humane Experimental Technique, and now fully integrated into forward-looking publications such as Toxicity Testing in the 21st Century: A Vision and a Strategy, the concept of replacing animals in test procedures with human cells and/or human cell-derived in vitro 3-D tissues is being embraced by the world’s research scientists and toxicologists at an ever-increasing rate. 3-D in vitro models are being utilised not only for humanitarian reasons, but also because human 3-D tissues, in particular, produce more-physiologically relevant scientific data.
PebMed, The MatTek Story – How the three Rs principles led to 3-D tissue success!

The Future of Testing is Humane.

Animals are historically poor indicators of human clinical outcomes, but for lack of better methods, animal testing has been required by U.S. regulatory agencies to ensure consumer safety for nearly 100 years. The disadvantage is that rodents, rabbits, and dogs don’t share enough biological and physiological similarities with humans, making the data from animal experiments unreliable and poorly predictive of human outcomes in clinical trials.

XCellR8, The Future of Testing is Humane.

Animal Testing And Non-Animal Alternative Testing Market

The major drivers of the non-animal alternative testing technologies market include technological advances in drug development, ethical concerns on animal experimentations, high costs of animal studies, government programs for non-animal testing, rise in the number of research and development activities, raising investments and research grants for developing alternative technologies, increasing collaborations and partnerships to reduce animal testing, non-animal testing methods in the cosmetics industry are gaining traction, and increasing social awareness against animal cruelty.

Yahoo, Animal Testing And Non-Animal Alternative Testing Global Market Report 2022

Take Action and Commit to The SPARK Pledge Today

The SPARK Pledge is a commitment to replace the use of ineffective and harmful animal experimentation in toxicity and safety testing with more modern, effective solutions. The SPARK Pledge was created to build a cross-sector of companies, organizations, and individuals working together to drive a more sustainable, humane, and scientifically superior process of ensuring the safety of chemicals, pharmaceuticals, and other products. The Pledge is co-sponsored by the Center for Contemporary Sciences (CCS), MatTek, the Lush Prize, and the BICO Group.

Sign the Pledge

The Better Science Bulletin

Non-Animal Testing, May 10, 2023

Maryland becomes first state to require animal testing labs to contribute money to non-animal research

Maryland’s Governor Wes Moore signed a bill, HB 626/SB 560, into law this week making Maryland the first state to require that animal laboratories contribute to a research fund that will be used to provide

Learn More

Tissue Models, Non-Animal Testing, April 18, 2023

Empowering Formulation Chemists

Take your testing into the 21st century with MatTek’s cruelty free cosmetic testing applications. The beauty industry is constantly evolving with new and innovative products emerging every day. Consumers are becoming increasingly conscious of the

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Non-Animal Testing, April 1, 2023

AFSA Launches Master Class on Animal-free Cosmetic Safety Assessment

The Animal-Free Safety Assessment Collaboration (AFSA) is a global coalition of scientific leaders working to advance the acceptance and use of animal-free safety science as a gold standard across regulatory frameworks all over the world.

Learn More

Non-Animal Testing, March 20, 2023

New York Times Article Challenges Animal Testing in Drug Development: The Future of Testing Takes Shape

Are you curious about the future of drug development and animal testing? The New York Times has just published an eye-opening piece on page 3 of their March 7, 2023 newspaper that will leave you

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Non-Animal Testing, March 9, 2023

Partial Ban on Animal Testing for Cosmetics in Brazil

A partial ban on animal testing for cosmetics has been established in Brazil by the National Council for the Control of Animal Experimentation via regulatory restriction No. 58. Animal testing for beauty ingredients with ‘known

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Non-Animal Testing, White Paper, December 1, 2022

Drug Discovery: Relevance of 3D small intestine tissue model, EpiIntesinal™

Human-relevant, organ-specific models are increasingly prevalent in the toxicology and drug discovery fields. The differentiated structure and function of these tissue models cultured using normal, human cells, provide improved human in vivo relevance compared to

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Success Stories

Changing the Future of Women's Health

A Relevant Alternative to Testing Women’s Personal Care Products

Good Clean Love is advocating for the use of a 3D human tissue model developed by MatTek as a more relevant alternative to testing women’s personal care products than animals.

“There are currently so many problems with women’s healthcare products. Partly, because they depend on archaic animal testing to approve new products. A lot of research shows that animal testing results do not provide an accurate reflection of safety.”

Wendy Strgar, CEO at Good Clean Love

Creating the Future of Health with Better Science

Did You Know?

Take Action and Commit to The SPARK Pledge Today

The Better Science Bulletin

Success Stories

Changing the Future of Women's Health

A Relevant Alternative to Testing Women’s Personal Care Products

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