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In a victory for lab animals and those advocating on their behalf to make beauty and personal care products cruelty-free around the world, another country has announced plans to end animal testing for cosmetics.
This week South Korea’s Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs announced that the issue of animal testing will be part of its Five Year Plan for Animal Welfare. Under the new plan, testing finished products on animals will be banned, and further consideration will go into a ban on testing ingredients.
The plan follows the strategy the European Union used for its ban, first banning finished product testing and then ingredients, and has thrilled animal advocates who have been campaigning to see the needless suffering of animals who are still being used unnecessarily to test cosmetics come to an end.
According to Cruelty Free International (CFI), nine alternative methods to animal tests have already been validated in Korea and two more are in the works. Once those are validated, official guidelines on the full set of alternatives will be published.
“We very much welcome this important breakthrough and we are grateful to the members of the National Assembly who helped us press the case. We will now be urging implementation as soon as possible so that the full ban can be achieved at the earliest possible date, bringing Korea into line with Europe and India. We hope to see this echoed in 2015 by other Asian countries where we are active. This is a great start to the New Year,” said Michelle Thew, Chief Executive of CFI.
South Korea’s compassionate change will make it the second country in Asia to take steps to ban animal testing for cosmetics and follows an ever growing list of countries around the globe that have already made huge strides in this area, including India, Israel, Brazil, the European Union and China, which recently removed a huge barrier when it officially announced it would end its mandatory requirement for animal testing.
While the U.S. is still lagging embarrassingly behind on this issue, it is on legislative radar here. Last year Rep. Jim Moran introduced the Humane Cosmetics Act, which would make it illegal to conduct or commission animal testing for cosmetics after a one year phase in, which will be followed by a ban on the interstate sale of products and ingredients that were made using animal testing after three years.
Not only will this legislation end the suffering of animals used in cruel and painful tests, but it will also help keep us safe and healthy by encouraging the development and validation of more alternatives that are cheaper, faster and more reliable. It will also be good for business, by helping cosmetics companies in the U.S. stay competitive in a global market that continues to move towards mandating cruelty-free alternatives.
The bill has received widespread support from animal advocates and compassionate companies. This past November Moran’s successor, Virginia Democrat Don Beyer, took up the cause and is expected to bring it to Congress this month.
TAKE ACTION!
Please sign and share the petition urging your representatives to help bring the U.S. in line with countries that are taking the lead to end animal testing for cosmetics by supporting and co-sponsoring the Humane Cosmetics Act.
Read more: http://www.care2.com/causes/success-another-country-moves-to-ban-animal-testing-for-cosmetics.html#ixzz3PlH37btT
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