Campaign against animal testing

BANGALORE: Humane Society International and Lush Cosmetics have joined forces to launch the global campaign to end animal testing for cosmetics. The public is encouraged to add signature of support to the store windows of Lush Cosmetics.  Troy Seidle, director of research and toxicology for Humane Society International, said: “Animal testing is the ugly secret of the beauty industry, and it’s time for it to stop. Thousands of animals such as rabbits and mice continue to endure chemical poisoning tests just to produce new lipsticks and shampoos, and that’s simply unacceptable in a modern society. So we are thrilled to be joining forces to campaign for an end to the suffering and look forward to turning the whole world cruelty-free.”A sales ban is due to be implemented in March 2013, but EU policy makers are considering delaying or weakening it, so consumers are being urged to sign HSI’s CrueltyFree2013 petition in Lush stores.Outside the EU, animal testing for cosmetics continues and is even a legal requirement in some countries. Lush stores will be encouraging the public to sign up to HSI’s ‘Be Cruelty Free’ pledge.  Hilary Jones, ethics director at Lush Fresh Handmade Cosmetics, said: “The animals have waited over 20 years for this legislation to be fully enacted. Whilst the laws were not strong enough, many companies have adopted voluntary codes of practice to cut animal testing from their business.” She added, “Animals should be protected by robust laws which force all companies to adopt humane methods to bring their products to market. The public demanded this legislation in the 80s and 90s — it is time to honour the promise given to them to take animals out of cosmetics testing.”Lush and Humane Society International believe that testing on animals to produce new cosmetic products or ingredients is morally and scientifically unjustified. Animals are subjected to considerable pain and distress during toxicity tests; even pregnant animals are used and their unborn babies chemically poisoned. Animal toxicity tests are also scientifically unreliable for assuring human safety because animals and humans can respond very differently to the same chemicals.Cosmetics can easily be produced without animal testing by using the thousands of existing ingredients for which safety data and advanced non-animal testing methods such as 3D human skin models, test-tube cell tests and computer models are already available.