Skin sensitisation tests involving the use of guinea pigs

30.4.2025

Question for written answer  E-001720/2025
to the Commission
Rule 144
Niels Fuglsang (S&D)

A total of 33 029 skin sensitisation tests were conducted in 2022. The proportion of skin sensitisation tests involving the use of guinea pigs is now at 78 %, despite the availability of a more refined method using mice (local lymph node assay – LLNA)[1].

Can the Commission explain why such a high proportion of guinea pigs are still being used in testing and what is being done to encourage Member States to use the available non-animal approaches, or at the very least, the LLNA, which is viewed as a refinement?

Submitted: 30.4.2025

• [1] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16938465/.