Beauty | E.U. Bans Cosmetic Animal Testing

[The Ed.]

March will see the introduction, in the E.U., of a ban on the import and sale of any cosmetics and ingredients that have been tested on animals. After a long and drawn out fight from animal rights activists, the E.U. will finally be implementing a comprehensive ban on any products or products that contain ingredients that have been tested on animals.

The delay on such a law has been due to the argument by some scientists that say that animal testing is still necessary and that alternative methods are not as rigorous.

Tonio Borg, the E.U. Health Commissioner says, "This decision...means that we need to step up our efforts in the development, validations and acceptance of alternative methods as well as in the international recognition of these methods."

"This is truly an historic event and the culmination of twenty years of campaigning," says Michelle Thew, Cruelty Free International Chief Executive. "Now we will apply our determination and vision on a global stage to ensure that they rest of the world follows this lead."

With huge export markets such as China still testing on animals, it remains to be seen how effective their campaigning will be and how the E.U. ban will affect the cosmetics industry.

Until then...geek on!

The Ed.

 

[Feline]

It is about time, I found it shocking that it was still alowed.. for some reason since the late 90's I though a ban was already in place for the EU :O

I am living in the light that hopefully this will set the trend going for the rest of the world.... give it time etc.

 

[nailzoo]

Should be interesting (if not hypocritical), nearly every chemical has been tested on animals at one stage or another, just look at any really good MSDS that contains toxicology data, it will say toxicity effects on Rat, effect on Rabbit, so I'd say you will have to take about 80% of all products off the market.
Many products get around this by not including toxicology data in their MSDS, but if you dig for the ingredients, or ask for the scientific literature on the ingredients....... they have indeed been tested on animals.
I don't think there is any need to test on animals NOW ..... it's already been done......

here's an interesting link ......, just look for the word "animal", it appears 60 times, this testing is done to make sure it is safe for humans, it's unfortunate, but it's real
http://toxnet.nlm.nih.gov/cgi-bin/sis/search/a?dbs+hsdbterm+@DOCNO+1332

 

[salj]

I don't think there is any need to test on animals NOW ..... it's already been done......

exactly. And that's only what this ban covers anyway, NEW products. Not existing products that have already been tested before the ban comes into force.

Hopefully other countries will follow suit soon, as so many companies still will be animal testing if they sell in china and on products sold outside the EU.

 

[xxAmyxx]

But will old products be ok to buy then? Since they'll no longer be tested on animals? It's confusing lol x

 

[taggyboy]

http://metro.co.uk/2013/03/11/animal-test-ban-finally-takes-effect-after-30-years-3535108/

Makes interesting reading. Do you feel it will make a difference?

 

[salj]

But will old products be ok to buy then? Since they'll no longer be tested on animals? It's confusing lol x

Not sure what you mean by ok. They'll be on sale if they already were before the ban. But they will still have been tested. It's only new products that are produced after the ban that definitely won't have been tested.

My issue is that testing is still carried out in other countries so by buying brands like L'Oreal / Lauder brands etc, it would still be supporting a company that animal tests, albeit outside of the EU.

You're right it's very confusing. Maybe one day there'll be a worldwide ban! Maybe not, but we can hope right?

 

[Ben Taylor]

Wow I think I just assumed in todays world this was no longer happening, I remember when I was younger you used to see a lot of people campaigning with sandwich boards in the street but they are never around anymore.

Bravo on passing this law hopefully China won't be far behind.

 

[Popular Polish]

What happens to all the famous brands people buy in the EU? Boots make up aisles would be empty!

Personally - More recently - I've been investigating animal cruelty and which brands test their ingredients on animals. It's shocking to discover which ones do.

 

[beauty_girl]

http://www.mediapeta.com/peta/PDF/companiesdotest.pdf

Sent from my KFTT using SalonGeek

 

[beauty_girl]

http://www.mediapeta.com/peta/PDF/companiesdonttest.pdf

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[the salon girl]

A very interesting one to reach to being in the industry. Obviously we'll all say it's a good thing, but how much will it restrict our technological advancements? I'm on the fence.