Lets ban together and ban animal testing in cosmetics once and for all!
If you’ve ever seen the Leaping Bunny logo on the back of one of your beauty, bath or household cleaning products, you probably didn’t even realize that cute little bunny ensures that brand is trusted not to conduct animal testing. But what exactly does animal testing in our everyday products look like? It’s hard to imagine but millions of guinea pigs, bunnies and mice are killed yearly to test out the effects of our everyday beauty products.
Common testing procedures include skin tests, where harmful chemicals may be rubbed onto the animals bare skin or dropped into their eyes without any pain relief. Many animals are force fed these products in high doses to test for long-term illness or overdose symptoms. Are these tests necessary in protecting us humans from harm? The answer is no, with advanced technology close to 50 different tests can be conducted without the use of animals. In vitro (in glass) testing can be used to study human cells and is more useful than testing on animals’ skin which is different than our own.
There is a worldwide database of over 11,000 safe ingredients to use for cosmetics. What consumers often don’t realize is many beauty products are made from the exact same ingredients list and even use the same warehouse manufactures. The main difference in your beauty products is packaging.
Although the US does not call for animal testing on cosmetics, it is still widely practiced and we are importing and exporting makeup to and from countries that enforce this, such as China. In 2013, the European Union (with an estimated 500 million beauty product consumers) banned animal testing in cosmetics; even if the products come from overseas, the EU will still not allow imports. India, Norway and Israeli all have similar bans. Why hasn’t America followed suit?
In March of 2014, Jim Morgan, Democratic representative of Virginia introduced the first US bill (The Humane Cosmetics Act, H.R. 4148) which set out to ban the use of animal testing in cosmetics. The bill was introduced into the house but never made it to the floor, due to lack of sponsored representatives. In June of 2015, Martha Mcsally, Republican representative of Arizona, introduced a new bill, The Humane Cosmetics Act, H.R 2858. Currently this bill is still awaiting to be passed and needs your help. We reached out to Mcsally’s office for comment, she was not available to speak but her secretary remarked they were unsure about their plans for the bill but were hopeful of some course of action being taken. To help support H.R 2858, you can contact Martha Mcsally’s office at (202) 225-2542 and voice your opinion that animal testing in cosmetics is a cruel, outdated practice that needs to not be ignored. You can also help gain her support by reaching out to your state’s local representative and urging them to back H.R 2858. The Humane Society provides you with easy to use access to look up your representatives email and phone number; click here
Spread the word to your friends and family and don’t forget to reach out to your favorite beauty brands and let them know this bill urgently needs their support!
