AR-News: "Outcry over mice that die for every batch of Botox" --DAILY MAIL (London)

[Karen Dawn]

(The Daily Mail takes letters at: letters at dailymail.co.uk )

DAILY MAIL (London)

January 27, 2004

SECTION: ED_3RD; Pg. 22

 Outcry over mice that die for every batch of Botox

SEAN POULTER


ANIMAL welfare groups have called for a boycott of Botox after it emerged
that every batch of the anti-wrinkle treatment is tested on mice.

A legal loophole means that such products are not covered by the ban on
animal testing for cosmetic products because they were initially developed
as medicines.

Last night, the Home Office was urged to close the loophole and Botox users
were warned that they are contributing to animal suffering.

The beauty industry has seen a multimillion-pound boom in the use of
treatments based on the botulinum toxin, which paralyse facial muscles to
smooth the skin.

But clients of cosmetic clinics are unaware that mice are injected and
killed with the toxin to test the potency of each new batch of thousands of
doses.

How keen the Government will be to act remains to be seen, for it is itself
making millions from the treatments. One Botox-type product, Dysport, was
developed by British scientists at Porton Down laboratories in the 1970s to
help cure squints.

It is being manufactured at Health Protection Agency (HPA) facilities at the
Wiltshire site and then sold around the world for beauty and medical
purposes by its commercial partner, Ipsen.

The Daily Mail has discovered that the HPA, which carries out the mice
experiments, receives a royalty running into millions of pounds every year
from Ipsen.

And this figure is likely to soar, with moves by Ipsen to license Dysport in
Europe and the U.S. as a cosmetic treatment.

Neither Botox nor Dysport is currently licensed for cosmetic use in the UK.

However, that does not stop doctors prescribing them for thousands of
'patients'.

They are both created from botulinum, which is grown from bacteria. The
toxin is volatile and each batch can be different. For this reason tests on
mice are used to establish the potency and the dilution needed to provide
safe doses.

Botox, the leading product in beauty treatments, was developed by the U.S.

chemicals giant Allergan, based in Irvine, California.

The doses used in Britain are manufactured in Ireland. The UK licence
requires that each new batch is tested on mice.

Last night, Animal Aid, the UK's largest animal rights group, wrote to Home
Office Minister Caroline Flint urging her to order manufacturers to switch
to tests not involving mice.

Director Andrew Tyler said: ' Thousands of animals are being sacrificed on
the altar of vanity.' The mouse test involves injecting Botox or Dysport
into a group of mice in sufficient quantities to kill 50 per cent of them.

Home Office figures show a sharp increase in mice used in animal experiments
in the last few years.

The total number of animal experiments rose by 110,000 in 2002, to reach
2.73million.

The Botox manufacturer, Allergan, refused to discuss any aspect of the
testing, describing the details as commercially confidential.

But the Daily Mail confirmed, via Britain's Medicines and Healthcare
Products Regulatory Agency, that mice are used. Both the HPA and Ipsen
admitted the use of mice but insisted they are developing alternative tests.

A spokesman for Ipsen said: 'We estimate that 80 per cent of Dysport is used
for medical applications and 20 per cent for cosmetic. Botox is probably
higher in terms of cosmetic use.

'In an ideal world the company would not be using mice. We use animals
because that is what regulators require.' s.poulter at dailymail.co.uk END