Ending animal testing everywhere and forever
Back in February, we first told you about our campaign for a global ban to end cosmetics animal testing once and for all the world over. We knew we were being ambitious. But like you, we also knew it’s the right thing to do for animals.
And now, so do more than two million compassionate people! Over 2 million people have so far signed our Forever Against Animal Testing petition with The Body Shop.
We’ve never seen so many signatures amassed in such a short time – it went live in June! It’s clear that millions of people like you around the world are behind us - and that counts with the people who make the decisions.
On your behalf, we’ve been beavering away persuading decision-makers that a global end to this cruel and unnecessary animal testing is something they should make happen.
In July, we went to the European Parliament to talk to an influential group of politicians interested in animal welfare to set out a road map for a global ban. We urged them to encourage the rest of the world to build on Europe’s successes for animals. Many of the politicians we spoke to weren’t aware that cosmetics animal testing still happens in some key countries - and several echoed your call for it to be consigned to the history books right away.
It might not be quite that easy – but we’re doing everything we can to make it so.
You might wonder why we’re talking to European decision-makers as the ban is already in place there. Well that’s precisely why. We need a member government of the United Nations to place a resolution on the table of the UN General Assembly, and we need many more nations to support it. Countries that already know that a ban works for animals, and that it also acts as an impetus for humane science, provides a level playing field for industry and gives consumers confidence are the perfect advocates to help us.
We also arranged for MEPs to sign the Forever Against Animal Testing petition, and asked them to urge key EU decision-makers and their own governments to act in support of a global ban.
We want the European Parliament to agree a formal position in favour of a global ban that can be taken forward at the UN. We’ve made a huge leap in the right direction already, winning the support of European commissioner Elzbieta Bienkowska, who told us:
“The Commission will support any initiative at international level to end animal testing in cosmetics and in particular initiatives of EU Member States that propose a UN resolution on the matter.”
That’s great news for animals!
Further afield, we gave a talk to international cosmetics regulators and industry from the world’s biggest cosmetics markets in Brazil at the end of July. We were one of only two non-governmental organisations that spoke to the gathering. We told them about what they can do to help achieve a UN resolution that brings cosmetics animal testing to an end all over the world.
At the same time, we supported legislators in Brazil who are getting closer to passing laws there that would ban the sale of imported animal-tested cosmetics. Fingers crossed for more news on that soon!
Things are also looking positive in Australia where new rules have been announced for 2018! We are talking to government there to try and make the proposed law as strong as possible for animals.
In the USA, the Humane Cosmetics Act is back on the table following the Presidential election. We’re working hard to get more legislators to sign up so that it can be taken forward. If you live in the US, please take 5 minutes now to email your representative.
We’ll be back to the UN in September to make more decision-makers aware of the issue and to keep cosmetics animal testing firmly on their radar. Every day we’re reaching out to different countries in different regions across the world.
Things are changing fast and although we’re making some great steps forward, there is always more to do. We couldn’t do this work for animals without your amazing and invaluable support.
We need to keep those signatures rolling in so please sign the petition if you haven’t already and share so that your family, friends and colleagues sign too.