Animal Testing in China: An Update
Supporters have been asking us about headlines announcing a change in China’s animal testing regulations.
To date, it’s been compulsory for any company that sells cosmetics in China to conduct tests on animals. Now, the Chinese Food and Drug Administration (CFDA) is proposing to change the way that some cosmetics products manufactured within China are registered – and these changes could mean that fewer animals will be poisoned in Chinese laboratories.
The CFDA’s plan, which is still under review, would shift registration for certain types of cosmetics manufactured in China from the national to the provincial level and would place responsibility for toxicological assessments on the companies, which could choose not to use animals. However, cosmetics manufactured outside the country and so-called “functional cosmetics”, such as skin whiteners, would still be subject to the animal testing requirement.
We are cautiously optimistic that this plan, if it does become law, will be a step towards reducing the suffering of mice, rabbits and other animals in cosmetics testing. At the same time, PETA is concerned that Chinese companies, which are not yet familiar with the range of non-animal tests used in Europe and the US, will still use archaic tests on animals. PETA US has been working to address this situation by giving financial support to the Institute for In Vitro Sciences, which is providing government officials and scientists in China with training in the use of sophisticated non-animal methods. Ending animal testing in China will be a long process, but little by little, we’re making progress.
You can take action against animal testing, too. Please join our campaign asking airlines to stop shipping primates from Asia to laboratories in Europe and the US to be tortured: PETAUK.org/CSAir.
