In a major milestone in the fight to ban animal testing globally, the Australian Senate has passed a bill effectively banning cosmetic animal testing in the country.
Cruelty Free International estimates that more than 500,000 animals each year are used in cosmetics testing. Although there has been significant progress in recent years, including the European Union prohibiting all cosmetic animal testing in 2013 as well as the sale of products tested elsewhere, 80 percent of countries still have not made it illegal to test cosmetics on animals.
Now, with the passing of the Industrial Chemical Charges Bill 2017, Australia joins a growing number of countries saying no to cosmetic testing on animals.
The Australian Government has committed to 11 substantial reinforcing measures to ensure that all cosmetic ingredients are captured by the ban, together with funding to support the development and uptake of modern non-animal test methods. The bill also includes measures to prohibit reliance on new animal test data for chemicals introduced into Australia for use as ingredients in cosmetics.
“Today we are celebrating a major win in the fight to end animal testing […] Hopefully, we will see more governments around the world follow suit,” says Shannon Chrisp, Marketing and Corporate Responsibility Director for The Body Shop Australia – the first international beauty brand to campaign against animal testing.
Last year, in the most ambitious campaign against animal testing ever, The Body Shop, together with Cruelty Free International brought a petition against cosmetic animal testing to the United Nations Headquarters in New York City to create a global framework to end animal testing.
In just 15 months, more than 8.3 million people signed their names in recognition that cosmetic animal testing is outdated, cruel and unnecessary.
