On March 2013, the EU rolled out a ban on animal-tested cosmetics. As one could see, this ban wasn’t as effective as many had hoped for or else I wouldn’t be blogging about a cruelty-free lifestyle in Malta. This month The Body Shop and Cruelty Free International launched the Forever Against Animal Testing Campaign. The aim of the #ForeverAgainstAnimalTesting (#FAAT) is to roll out the March 2013 ban globally. The Forever Against Animal Testing campaign will help in convincing and training countries such as China where animal testing is enforced to find more ethical and accurate methods of testing.
A historical timeline:
- 1989: The Body Shop started campaigning to end animal testing for cosmetics, the first global cosmetics company to do so.
- 1998: Following our sustained campaign, the UK government banned animal testing of cosmetic products and ingredients.
- 2003: Campaigning by The Body Shop and BUAV (British Union for the Abolition of Vivisection, now Cruelty Free International) contributed to a European Union ban on animal testing in cosmetic products.
- 2009: The European Union implements its ban on animal testing in cosmetic ingredients.
- 2013: We celebrate history. The sale and import of animal-tested products and ingredients are banned, completing the EU ban. Our campaign with Cruelty Free International collects 1 million signatures, influencing significant progress across the world as South Korea, New Zealand and India now have a variety of bans in place. Australia is set to follow with a ban promised by July 2017 as is Taiwan in 2019. Cruelty Free International have trained scientists in Vietnam and are now discussing with Thailand and other governments the possibility of a ban across ASEAN.
Some animal testing facts:
- 80% of countries don’t have any laws against animal testing
- around 500,000 animals are used in cruel tests for cosmetics purposes every year
- just 1 ingredient in a product can result in the deaths of at least 1,400 animals
- alternatives to animal testing are often cheaper, quicker and more accurate
- studies demonstrate that animal tests predict human reactions by only 40-60%, whereas substitutions are accurate 80% of the time
- in 2013 the EU banned sales of cosmetics tested on animals, but there’s still work to be done
Sign the #ForeverAgainstAnimalTesting petition today!
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