As a responsible company and market leader we always ensure that our products pose no risks whatsoever to consumers. Novozymes therefore has a large and well-equipped Toxicology department which collects toxicity data on all our products.
Traditional toxicology, which invariably includes animal testing, is often necessary to satisfy the requirements of regulatory bodies. However, animal testing is not always necessary nowadays for all end points in a risk assessment. Wherever possible Novozymes uses in vitro or alternative tests which do not involve live animals but cell cultures, bacteria or organs obtained from slaughterhouses.
We also use alternatives to acute oral toxicity tests, and skin and eye irritation tests for internal safety clearance and, whenever possible, for product acceptance by regulatory authorities. In those cases where the authorities do not accept alternative methods, we try to convince them of our methods by presenting data that show that the information derived from in vitro methods is comparable to historical data derived from animal testing.
Novozymes actively works to develop or validate new tests that do not involve animals. Novozymes’ objective is to stop using animal for toxicity testing. However, we realise that at present not all toxicity tests can be replaced with acceptable alternatives.