As Europe Bans Sale of Animal-Tested Cosmetics,
LUSH and Humane Society International CEOs Call for
Global End to Cosmetics Cruelty
As the European Union finally
banned the sale of newly
animal-tested cosmetics on 11
March 2013, LUSH Fresh Handmade
Cosmetics Co-Founder and MD
Mark Constantine, and Andrew
Rowan, President and CEO of
Humane Society International, one
of the largest animal protection
groups in the world, sent an open
letter to the global cosmetics
industry calling on it to abandon
animal testing once and for all.
Although testing cosmetics on
animals had been banned across
the EU since 2009, it was still legal to
sell cosmetics that had been tested
on animals in other countries. That
changed from 11 March when a
ban on selling newly animal tested
cosmetics - first promised by
politicians 20 years ago and
delayed several times since then -
finally came into force. Any beauty
product, from shampoo and
mascara to toothpaste and
anti-wrinkle cream, is prohibited
from sale if it contains ingredients
tested on animals from 11 March.
HSI and LUSH have campaigned for
many years to end cosmetics
animal testing. LUSH, which has
more than 800 shops in 51
countries, first launched its strictly
‘no animal testing’ policy in 1991,
becoming a beacon for ethical,
compassionate cosmetics. HSI has
led an intense and high profile
campaign to see the EU sales ban
enforced, and in April last year
launched “Be Cruelty-Free,” the
largest global campaign to end
animal testing for cosmetics
worldwide.
In a letter sent to cosmetics industry
trade associations around the
globe, LUSH and HSI call on
animal-testing companies across
the world to choose the EU sales
ban as the moment to go
cruelty-free. The letter reads:
“On 11th March we will witness a
truly landmark moment in the
history of the beauty industry. The
world’s largest cosmetics market,
the European Union, which has
already banned animal testing of
cosmetics within its own borders,
will also close its doors to the sale of
cosmetics tested on animals in
other markets. This sales ban carries
with it a clarion call from
consumers: Cosmetics animal
testing is not welcome and it needs
to stop. Surely this must signal a
turning point for the beauty industry
worldwide to finally call an end to
animal testing and commit to
going cruelty-free?
LUSH, Humane Society International
and others have campaigned
tirelessly to end cosmetics cruelty.
Over the years we have heard
every excuse in the book from
cosmetics companies clinging on
to animal testing, yet one by one
those excuses have been exposed
to be hollow and self-serving.
Animal toxicity tests represent
out-dated science of decades-old
techniques that cannot reliably
assure consumer safety. The future
of safety testing lies with modern,
human-biology-based methods. So
there is no scientific excuse for
animal testing.
There are also many thousands of
existing cosmetic ingredients that
have long been established as safe
for use, meaning they don’t require
any new testing. Myriad
combinations of these allow
companies such as LUSH to
innovate to their heart’s content.
So there is no business excuse for
animal testing.
And of course animal testing
causes unimaginable suffering as
rabbits and other animals have
chemicals dripped in their eyes or
spread on their delicate skin.
Swollen eyes, skin rashes and organ
damage are the ugly hidden
secrets of a beauty industry that
has dragged its feet on ending
animal testing.
So there is no ethical excuse for
animal testing. Hundreds of
cruelty-free retailers such as LUSH
demonstrate every day that
producing exciting, safe and
innovative beauty products is
entirely possible without new
animal testing. So as we celebrate
the EU going cruelty-free, we urge
all those companies still testing
cosmetics on animals in the United
States, China, Brazil, India, Canada,
South Korea, Russia and beyond to
please do the decent thing and
stop the suffering. Show your global
customers that beauty isn’t just skin
deep—that it has a heart. You
have it within your collective power
to stop cosmetics cruelty today.
Please do it. Enough is enough.”
To mark the historic EU sales ban,
sign the Be Cruelty-Free pledge at
www.hsi.org/becrueltyfree and
help HSI create a world where no
animal has to suffer and die for the
sake of cosmetics.