Hurel Wins PETA Award for Advancing Non-Animal Testing

Use of Scientifically Superior Human Cell-Based Methods Nets Company a Proggy

For Immediate Release:
January 14, 2010

Contact:
Kate Willett 757-622-7382

Norfolk, VA -- For developing modern and reliable alternatives to cruel and archaic animal tests, Beverly Hills-based Hurel Corporation has won a PETA Proggy Award in the category of Best Scientific Innovation 2010. PETA's Proggy Awards ("Proggy" is for "progress") recognize animal-friendly achievements in commerce and culture.

"Testing toxic substances on animals is not only cruel but also bad science," says PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman. "Hurel's ingenuity hastens the day when animals will no longer be used in outdated and unreliable animal tests."

In addition to the suffering it imposes on countless animals, the vast physiological and genetic differences between humans and other species means that the results of animal toxicity tests are often not relevant and can be misleading when applied to humans. Hurel, on the other hand, uses in vitro (test tube) human cell-based technology to test cosmetics, drugs, and chemicals. Hurel has used microengineering to culture human cells in such a way that they effectively mimic human organs, and the company has successfully produced human liver tissue that can be used to address the critical issue of how chemicals are metabolized.

Hurel's recently announced collaboration with cosmetics giant L'Oreal to develop a non-animal model for assessing skin allergies will save even more animals' lives. The reaction that causes an allergic response in the skin involves the interaction of cells from two tissues--skin and lymph nodes--and this has complicated efforts to develop a non-animal model. Hurel's technology is perfectly suited to this complex task.

Hurel will receive a framed certificate and a letter of congratulations from PETA. For more information, please visit PETA.org.