07/18/14 China One Step Closer Towards Ending Animal Testing
Thanks to the efforts of animal protection and rights groups and public pressure China one step closer towards ending animal testing
- Up to 10,000 animals a year could be saved from cruel cosmetics tests!
For Day of Fighting Animal Experiments on July 21, which marks the anniversary of the liberation of beagles who were tested on at the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine in Zagreb, Animal Friends welcomes China's first step towards ending animal testing. Namely, as of this month it is no longer legaly mandated to test cosmetics, parfumes and skin, hair and nail care products manufactured and sold in China.
Last year the European Union banned the import and sale of cosmetic products and ingredients tested on animals, and anyone who wants to sell a new cosmetic product and use new ingredients in the EU must not test them on animals anywhere in the world. However, animals continue to suffer because over 80% of the countries in the world, including China, continue to allow cosmetics testing on them.
Due to the large market in China, where animal testing is required, many companies that were previously on the so-called White List chose to sell in China and, therefore, test as well, though it is unnecessary for the safety of the product, and it is cruel to animals. These companies have decided that their profits are more important than the protection of animals against cruelty and killing.
On the other hand, companies such as Lush and Paul Mitchell deliberately lose profits and do not sell their products in China because testing on animals is against their ethical business policy. They collaborate with animal protection organizations and Chinese relevant authorities in an effort to completely replace cosmetics testing on animals in China with non-animal methods.
It is estimated that between 100,000 and 300,000 rabbits, guinea-pigs, mice and other animals have, until now, been used to test cosmetics in China every year. During cosmetics testing, animals can have chemicals dripped in their eyes, spread on their skin or force-fed to them in massive, lethal doses. As well as causing animal suffering, many of these tests are notoriously unreliable in predicting real chemical reactions in people. If every eligible company took advantage of the policy change, we estimate up to 10,000 animals a year could be saved in China.
Although China has made little progress in the ethical treatment of animals and the manifacturing of safer cosmetics, it still requires mandatory animal testing for ordinary cosmetics imported from abroad and cosmetic products manufactured in China that are designed for special use (such as hair dyes, perms and hair growth products, deodorants, sunscreens, skin-whitening creams, and other products that make a functional claim on the label).
Cosmetics companies that oppose animal cruelty, unfortunately, still cannot do business in China because this decision does not allow products to be placed to market without any animal testing. Organizations for animal protection and ethical cosmetics manufacturers still have a lot of work to do. Only some future improvements in this area of law will enable Chinese manufacturers of cosmetics to enter into the European market, and give the European manufacturers possibility to work in China completely without cruelty.
Animal Friends, as a member organization of the European Coalition to End Animal Experiments (ECEA), invites people to support companies whose products and ingredients are not tested on animals. Compassionate choices of individuals have a direct impact on reducing animal suffering and the introduction of ethical principles in production.
More information, the new video by Cruelty Free International about animal experiments and the White List of companies that do not test on animals can be found at www.prijatelji-zivotinja.hr.
