What Is Animal Botox?
Animal Botox is the general name given to a toxicity test used by the cosmetics industry during the production of Botox anti-wrinkle injections. This experiment, also known as LD50 (Lethal Dose 50), consists of injecting botulinum toxin into mice, which will suffer paralysis of the body and subsequent suffocation.
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The Toxin
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The botulinum toxin is produced by the bacteria Clostridium botulinum, which causes botulism. According to Divakara Kedlaya-MBBS, clinical associate professor at Loma Linda University School of Medicine, California, and medical director at St. Mary Corwin Medical Center, Colorado, the toxin was first used as a medical treatment in 1980, in people with strabismus. Since then, it has also been used in cases of muscle pain disorders and facial spasms. However, it is the cosmetic industry that requires the biggest supplies. In the U.S., it has been approved for medical and cosmetic purposes, since 1989 and 2002, respectively.
The LD50 Test
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Despite its lack of reliability, the LD50 test, devised by British pharmacologist Trevant in 1920, is still used today. It consists of orally injecting groups of 100 mice with different dilutions of the toxin, produced from a single batch, to find out the dose able to kill half the mice in the group.
The test represents a way of measuring the poisoning potential of the substance. The animals will experience muscular paralysis of different levels. The survivors will be killed at the end of the test.
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Alternative Methods
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Human cell cultures can be more successfully used to test the toxicity of substances. In a report published by Animal Liberation, Dr Bjorn Ekwall said that human cell cultures have several advantages in predicting toxicity: there are not differences in the species; cell cultures can be taken from a particular human tissue most likely to be affected, for instance, the skin; they allow further research and they avoid causing pain and death to animals.
One Hundred Million Each Year
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The American Anti-Vivisection Society believes that it is impossible to know exactly the number of mice and rats used for research in the U.S., every year. However, the organization estimates that 100 million mice and rats are used in American laboratories, which makes 95 percent of all animals used in tests.
Undercover Investigation
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Several animal rights organizations have been campaigning to ban LD50 tests in the cosmetic industry, across the U.S. and Europe. According to a recent undercover investigation by the British Union for the Abolition of Vivisection (BUAV) (See Resources), as many as 74,000 mice a year are killed in Botox tests, by a single laboratory in the UK.
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References
- Animal Aid: Botox and Animal Experiments-Testing 'anti-wrinkle' injections
- EMedicine: Botulinum Toxin, Overview; Divakara Kedlaya, MBBS; June 2008
- Alttox: Non Animal Methods For Toxity Test:Toxicity Testing Overview
- Animal Liberation (Australia):Toxicity Testing including LD50
- American Anti-Vivisection Society: Animals Used in Research
Resources
- Photo Credit Little mouse image by Multiart from Fotolia.com
