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16 RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT The pursuit of optimum quality is the driving force at every stage of a product’s design. The aim is continually to improve a product’s current performance or to add an as yet unknown property. Performance is assessed at every point in the research process. One of the main objectives of our Research effort is to eliminate from the substances being studied any ingredient that might pose a threat to the consumer or the environment. Before any ingredient finds its way into a product, L’Oréal tests it using all the scientific knowledge and techniques available to it for assessing human and environmental safety. The International Safety Assessment Department closely examines the toxicological profile of all ingredients used and assesses the safety and tolerance of all formulations before they are accepted and put on the market. Products which are on the market undergo monitoring by a global network of specialist doctors set up by L’Oréal over twenty years ago. Testing centres have been set up by L’Oréal Research in a large number of countries in all five continents. These centres enable the group’s laboratories to test new formulas directly among the people for whom they are intended. Thanks to this structure, the different product categories in the group benefit from studies and tests that take into account the whole range of requirements, attitudes and characteristics of people all over the world. Large-scale cosmetics testing studies are carried out in Latin America, the USA and China, with a view to identifying the skin and hair types of women of African, Hispanic and Asian origin. Selecting raw materials L’Oréal attaches great importance to the selection of the raw materials used. To ensure constant improvement in product tolerance and effectiveness, all of the 2,800 raw materials used are continuously being renewed - at a rate of 150 per year. As part of its environmental policy, L’Oréal Research submits its formulations to risk assessment by outside international experts. Responding to the specific needs of a diverse human population L’Oréal’s Research scientists direct their efforts towards providing a scientific response to the most varied requirements. In vitro, human skin models obtained from cultures of skin cells from donors of different ages and ethnic groups facilitate the constant improvement of knowledge of the variations between skin types. In vivo, hair samples from all over the world are meticulously examined in terms of colour, composition, structure, resistance to the effects of contact with mechanical equipment and reaction to hair treatment. They are also cultivated in vitro. The group is in permanent dialogue with its suppliers all over the world, with a view to obtaining the highest quality fats, surfactants, solvents, polymers, plant extracts, propellants, dyes, pigments, UV filters, active biological ingredients, preservatives and antioxidants. It is active in promoting and developing the use of raw materials from natural, renewable sources. In <strong>2003</strong>, 39.7% of raw materials by volume came from plants*. Ethanol, for example, can be obtained from beetroot, and coconut can be used to produce fats and surfactants. The remaining raw materials are either synthetic or products that are very commonly found in nature (iron or titanium oxides, clay and schist).
17 A PRE-EMPTIVE APPROACH TO HUMAN AND ENVIRONMENTAL SAFETY When the first scientific data on the potential hazards associated with the outbreak of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) in the United Kingdom became available, L’Oréal took immediate action. Although the conclusions of the experts were reassuring, the group asked its suppliers of bovine extracts to provide certificates of origin and of production process. From 1992, long before regulations made it compulsory in 1996, all ingredients derived from organs defined as high risk by the WHO were eliminated from our formulations. Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) were suspected of depleting the ozone layer in the upper atmosphere as early as the 1970s. As a precaution, under the aegis of the United Nations, the Montreal Protocol was signed in 1987 and has been amended several times since. Some 160 countries have committed to the Protocol, the aim of which is gradually to phase out the production, sale and consumption of substances that deplete the ozone layer. The Montreal Protocol resulted in a European Regulation issued in 1994. L’Oréal had already replaced CFCs used as aerosol propellants by 1989. L’ORÉAL INSTITUTE FOR ETHNIC HAIR AND SKIN RESEARCH This Advanced Research institute was created in Chicago in 2000, in order to increase knowledge of the properties and specific requirements of the skin and hair of people of different origins, in particular those of African descent. It is the first of its kind in the world. In addition to its own research, it collaborates with Northwestern University in Chicago and Howard University in Washington. In order to share and disseminate knowledge on the ethnicity of hair and skin from all over the world, L’Oréal initiated a series of symposiums. The first, held in September 2001, was entitled Ethnic hair and skin: what is the state of the science? and brought together 170 participants, mainly research scientists from universities and industry, dermatologists and cosmetic surgeons. The most recent, on Ethnic hair and skin: new directions in research, took place in September <strong>2003</strong> and was attended by even more participants.
Page 1 and 2: SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT REPORT
Page 3 and 4: 1 Chairman’s Message L’Oréal a
Page 5 and 6: 3 Respect for different cultures an
Page 7 and 8: 5 3 Encouraging self-expression and
Page 9 and 10: 7 and Recommendations of the Intern
Page 11 and 12: 9 Review of the Board’s modus ope
Page 13 and 14: 11 ECONOMIC AFFAIRS A dynamic and s
Page 15 and 16: 13 Sustainable financial resources
Page 17: 15 RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT Innovat
Page 21 and 22: 19 As part of the search for altern
Page 23 and 24: 21 SOCIAL AND HUMAN AFFAIRS Sharing
Page 25 and 26: 23 Personalised career development
Page 27 and 28: 25 Recognising individual qualities
Page 29 and 30: 27 L’Oréal Thailand launched the
Page 31 and 32: 29 SAFETY, HEALTH AND ENVIRONMENT C
Page 33 and 34: 31 Training and informing employees
Page 35 and 36: 33 Energy consumption Although the
Page 37 and 38: 35 Atmospheric discharges Greenhous
Page 39 and 40: 37 Effluent Scope: this indicator c
Page 41 and 42: 39 • thermoformed plastic trays f
Page 43 and 44: 41 RESPONSIBILITY AND SOCIETY Commi
Page 45 and 46: 43 Philippa Marrack Christine Petit
Page 47 and 48: Photographs: Craig McDean (cover),

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