Are Clinique, Clarins, Dior and Others Illegally Marketing Cosmetics Tested on Animals?

Investigation is needed after evidence gives cause for concern that major cosmetics companies may be breaking the law by selling products in the UK that have been tested on animals in China.

New research by PETA US suggests that nine leading cosmetics companies may be quietly breaking UK and European law by continuing to sell products that are also marketed in China, where tests on animals are required by law.  Estée Lauder admitted the apparent violation of the law, and there was no denial from the other companies in an article in The Sunday Times, which covered PETA US’ findings.

We’re demanding that the government investigate retailers – including Benefit, Bliss, Caudalie, Clarins, Clinique, Dior, Estée Lauder, Gucci and Revlon – for possible violations of 2013’s groundbreaking Cosmetic Products Enforcement Regulations 2013 – which bans the marketing of cosmetics products and their ingredients that have been tested on animals.

Europe led the way in banning the sale of cosmetics products and their ingredients that have been tested on animals since 2013, a ban based on the principle that the harm caused to animals can never be outweighed by the potential benefit of new cosmetics products. But that ban is meaningless if it’s not rigorously enforced.

We’ve sent a dossier of evidence to Attorney General Jeremy Wright as well as to the Secretaries of State for Justice and Business, Michael Gove MP and Sajid Javid MP. Publicly available information from the Chinese Food and Drug Administration shows that cosmetics products which are readily available on UK stores’ shelves are also registered under the same name and for sale in China, a country where tests on animals for cosmetics are still compulsory.

Experiments to assess the toxicity of cosmetics products include the notorious Draize test, in which rabbits are placed in restraining stocks so that they cannot struggle or wipe their eyes. Their eyelids are pulled apart, and chemicals are dripped, sprayed or rubbed into their eyes. In the similarly horrific skin test, chemicals are typically rubbed onto the shaved skin of rabbits to check for the severity of the reaction before they’re killed or “washed out” and reused.

Every cosmetics company that sells in China knows animals will die for eye shadow or shampoo. This is inexcusable – especially if Europeans who support these companies have no idea that the cosmetics marketing ban and their trust have been betrayed. Caring consumers have the right to know whether products they’re buying in good faith have secretly been tested on animals. Please sign our petition to the government, demanding that it investigate these allegations and, if necessary, prosecute the companies in question. 

 

UPDATE: This petition is now closed.