Stop BOTOX Animal Testing

Botox is the brand name of one of the products containing the nerve poison botulinum toxin. The toxin is used for medical and increasingly for cosmetic applications. A small injection causes facial wrinkles to disappear. But the price for the short term 'beauty' is paid by the suffering and death of thousands of mice.

Each batch is tested using the LD50 test before it reaches consumers. A sample is injected into the abdomen of mice. The mice suffer paralysis, impaired vision and respiratory distress. After three or four days of suffering, they die from suffocation.

The IAVS has supported the campaign 'Stop Botox animal testing' since 2009 to inform the public, to put pressure on the manufacturers still testing on animals as well as on authorities to speed up the validation and implementation of animal-free methods and to remove the LD50 mouse assay in the EU legislation.