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Animal tests in cosmetics

Clinique, Benefit, Dior, Revlon and others to be investigated for possible illegal marketing following animal tests
Animal tests in cosmetics

Following the submission of a complaint by PETA and a petition signed by more than 15,000 supporters, the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy has announced that it’s asking Trading Standards to investigate several cosmetics brands – including Benefit, Bliss, Caudalie, Clarins, Clinique, Dior, Estée Lauder, Gucci (distributed by Proctor & Gamble) and Revlon – for possible violations of the Cosmetic Products Enforcement Regulations 2013.

PETA has called on Trading Standards to ensure that companies aren’t breaking the law by relying on data from animal tests in demonstrating product safety in the EU, that companies declare all animal-testing data in their product files and that consumers are not misled about the cruelty-free status of products.

Violating legislation?

In 2015, PETA US research concluded that at least nine leading cosmetics companies may be violating UK and European legislation by selling in the UK products that are also marketed in China, where animal tests are required by law.

Publicly available information from the China Food and Drug Administration shows that many cosmetics products that are readily available on the shelves of UK stores are also registered in China, where tests on animals for cosmetics are still compulsory.

Estée Lauder admitted to paying for tests on animals in China, while the other companies haven’t denied paying for them.

‘We welcome this announcement by the government as a crucial step in determining whether cosmetics companies are violating the marketing ban on animal-tested cosmetics.

‘It’s absolutely clear that the British public doesn’t want cosmetics tested on animals – and many consumers will be utterly shocked to hear that their beauty regime may be supporting such cruelty.’

DR JULIA BAINES
PETA science adviser

Tests on animals

As documented by PETA – whose motto reads, in part, that ‘animals are not ours to experiment on’ – methods used to assess the toxicity of cosmetics products include, among others, the notorious Draize tests, in which rabbits are placed in restraining stocks so that they cannot struggle or wipe their eyes.

Their eyelids are held open and chemicals are dripped, sprayed, or rubbed onto their eyes. In a similarly horrific skin test, chemicals are typically rubbed onto rabbits’ shaved skin in order to measure the severity of the reaction, after which the animals are killed.

Click here for more from PETA about why animals are not ours to experiment on.

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