PETA Urges EU Court to Protect Ban on Testing Cosmetics on Animals

Luxembourg – On Tuesday, the EU’s ban on testing cosmetics on animals will be defended in front of the European Court of Justice, as Symrise AG brings forward its case challenging the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA)’s demand that two ingredients commonly found in sunscreen be tested on 5,500 animals. A PETA scientist will be there to assist in the case.

The outcome of the precedent-setting case will not only affect the animal testing requirements for 2-ethylhexyl salicylate and homosalate but also provide clarity regarding how the Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH) regulation will be interpreted for all cosmetics ingredients. Upholding the ban on animal testing for cosmetics would mean that REACH cannot be used to undermine the ban; cruelty-free companies would not have to reformulate products or look for alternative suppliers; and the UK, Australia, and other countries with policies based on the EU ban would receive a strong message against allowing loopholes.

“Even though animal testing for cosmetics has been banned in the EU since 2013, thousands of animals could be forced to consume large quantities of sunscreen ingredients before being  killed and dissected,” says PETA Science Policy Manager Dr Julia Baines, who will be present to assist legal experts in the case. “By going to court, we will call on the EU to uphold the ban on cruel and ineffective tests.”

ECHA’s demands would result in approximately 5,500 rats, rabbits, and fish being used in toxicity tests. Some would be force-fed a cosmetics ingredient for up to three months. Others would be force-fed throughout pregnancy before they and their unborn offspring were killed and dissected, while others would be allowed to give birth only for their offspring to be exposed to the same chemicals. The public overwhelmingly rejects this cruelty: more than 1.4 million[1]

PETA recommends that consumers continue to consult the PETA US global “Beauty Without Bunnies” database, which lists more than 5,900 companies and brands that don’t test on animals anywhere in the world for any reason.

PETA – whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to experiment on” – opposes speciesism, a human-supremacist worldview. For more information, please visit PETA.org.uk or follow the group on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram.

Contact:

Sascha Camilli +44 (0) 20 7923 6244; [email protected]

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