First non-animal test method accepted by China

China has taken an important step, supported by the Science & Innovation team in Beijing, to improve animal welfare in China. On 11 November the China Food and Drug Administration (CFDA) published its first non-animal method for testing cosmetic ingredients.
This is great news as the new method can now be used to assess the safety of cosmetic ingredients without the need for animal testing. Even though the finished cosmetic products still need to be tested on animals, this is nevertheless a significant step forward for China in moving towards the international standard of non-animal testing for cosmetics.
With the support of Prosperity Fund, the UK Government started to work with the CFDA almost 3 years ago to promote non-animal testing methods for cosmetics in China. Our work this year has involved receiving the CFDA Vice-Minister to the UK in June to further promote our cooperation, co-hosting a training course on safety assessment for CFDA regulators in Shanghai in September, and participating in the International Conference on Cosmetics Alternative Methods in Hangzhou in October.
Our efforts to influence China to change its regulation on animal testing of cosmetics can open the door to UK and European cosmetics companies to a market worth over £25bn. Ultimately, it will allow ethical European companies who do not test on animals to enter the Chinese market. And likewise, it will upskill Chinese companies so that they can ethically enter the European market.

More details on the method can be found at the link below:
http://www.sda.gov.cn/WS01/CL0087/166246.html