We have joined PETA and over 450 cruelty-free brands and companies working towards regulatory change – including The Body Shop, Dove and Simple – in sending an open letter calling on European authorities to uphold the EU Cosmetics Regulation's animal testing and marketing bans.

The letter blasts the European Commission and European Chemicals Agency for effectively shredding the bans with the requirement that several widely used cosmetic ingredients be tested on animals under the guise of the REACH chemicals regulation. Because of this requirement, thousands of rats and rabbits have been condemned to suffer in tests in which they're force-fed a cosmetics ingredient before being killed and dissected.

Our Director of Public Affairs, Kerry Postlewhite, says, "European citizens and their representatives in the European Parliament fought hard for these bans, which have been a model for many other markets. They must be upheld as intended so that animals do not suffer for cosmetics in Europe."

As the letter states, the world is moving away from animal testing. In 2018, the European Parliament called for a worldwide ban on testing cosmetics on animals by 2023, and 84% of respondents to a recent global survey said they would not buy a cosmetics product if they knew it had been tested on animals.

The letter – also supported by Eurogroup for Animals and Humane Society International – is available here.

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