Lush Prize begins its tenth year of rewarding the best of animal-free scientific research
On April 18th this year, ten years from its launch in April 2012, Lush Prize is opening for public nominations.
Lush Prize rewards the very best scientists and campaigners around the world who are working towards an end to all testing of chemicals on animals, and is the biggest prize fund of its kind in the world. Previous science winners include US universities specialising in organ-on-a-chip research, Chinese researchers using human stem cells in their tests, and UK projects focussing on computer modelling of chemical toxicity.
In the ten years since its launch, much has changed in the world of animal science, but much remains to be done.
According to Rebecca Ram, Lush Prize science advisor:
“There is increasing recognition and proactivity on the need to move away from animal models in favour of more human relevant technologies across the cosmetics, chemical and pharmaceutical sectors. However, regulatory agencies remain entrenched and animal tests are still required by governments around the world, despite growing concerns over their reliability.
This year we are particularly looking for projects which raise wider public awareness of the need for change, as well as for scientists who are developing new tests to address more complex safety issues, for example in developmental toxicity (the passing of chemicals between mothers and unborn babies).”
More information about the five different award themes and how to nominate appear on the Lush Prize website. Nominations will close on Friday June 17th.
Over its ten years of operation, Lush Prize has provided more than £2 million to support animal-free testing and campaigns around the world.
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Lush Prize was founded in 2012 in the UK with a goal of helping to bring forward the date when no further product safety testing on animals was required. It is a collaboration between the campaigning cosmetics company Lush and the campaigning research group Ethical Consumer.
The £250,000 prize fund is the biggest prize in the non-animal testing sector, and is the only award to focus solely on the complete replacement of animal tests.
More details of this year’s prize can be found on the website at https://lushprize.org.
The Prize categories (http://www.lushprize.org/awards/) –
- Public Awareness: public awareness-raising of on going testing
- Science: for the development of replacement non-animal tests
- Training: training researchers in non-animal tests
- Lobbying: policy interventions to promote the use of replacements
- Young Researcher: to researchers under 35 years old specialising in animal replacement research
About Lush: Lush is a campaigning manufacturer and retailer of fresh handmade cosmetics with shops in 48 countries. The Lush Prize is one element in a broader campaign called ‘Fighting Animal Testing’. www.lush.co.uk
About Ethical Consumer: Ethical Consumer Research Association is a not-for-profit research co-operative specialising in independent research into social, animal welfare and environmental issues. www.ethicalconsumer.org
Every year, it is estimated that more than around 200 million animals are used in testing laboratories around the world.
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