California starts web animal database to locate endangered species

On 17 May, California started a new web resource—Pesticide Regulation Endangered Species Custom Realtime Internet Bulletin Engine (PRESCRIBE)—for tracking the habitat of endangered species throughout the state1. The Department of Pesticide Regulation, which created the PRESCRIBE online database application, says that this tool was “developed to help pesticide applicators find out if they have any endangered species in the vicinity of their application site, and the use limitations applicable to the pesticide product(s) they intend to use2.”

European court dismisses French action against ban on animal testing for developing and marketing cosmetics

On 24 May, the Court of Justice of the European Communities dismissed the French request to partially annul Directive 2003/15/EC1, which provides that “Member States are to ban progressively the marketing of cosmetic products in cases where those products or their ingredients have been the subject of animal testing and the performance, within their territory, of testing on animals in respect of such products or ingredients. The directive also sets aside the ban on marketing of those products provided for hitherto by Directive 76/768 (ref. 3).” France argued that the court bans of Directive 2003/15 infringed the principle of legal certainty.

The European court deemed the French action to be inadmissible, concluding that the “partial annulment sought was impossible,” because it “would substantively alter the provisions relating to testing on animals for the purpose of developing cosmetic products3.”