Ask your Representative to support Federal Humane Cosmetics Act
In June of this year, we were the first to sound the alarm that state cruelty free cosmetics laws were at risk from a sweeping clause tucked into the cosmetics provisions of the Senate’s FDA Safety and Landmark Advancements (FDASLA) Act that would have declared them invalid.
With the FDASLA Act on fast track because of the need to reauthorize four Food and Drug Administration (FDA) user fee programs due to expire this year, we sprang into action.
Now, with your help and the efforts of many others, these state cruelty free cosmetic laws are safe, for the time being.
Last week, the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) agreed a version of the FDASLA that stripped out all cosmetics related language. With all the cosmetics language removed, the problematic pre-emption clause is gone, and state laws are preserved.
Whilst this is good news, our chance to enact a nationwide cruelty free cosmetics law via FDASLA has also been wiped away in this version. We had hoped that the bill would be amended to make state-level cruelty free cosmetics restrictions the law of the land.
In a letter to the HELP committee, our North America Head of Public Affairs, Monica Engebretson, wrote, “If the final FDA user fee reauthorization bill package is going to update U.S. regulation of cosmetics it should include the innovative state policy making, not strip it away… State-level cruelty free cosmetics legislation and the federal Humane Cosmetics Act represent an alignment of science, ethics, and economics and have received bipartisan support and endorsements from cosmetics companies of all sizes as well as the Personal Care Products Council - the leading national trade association that represents more than 90% of the U.S. beauty industry.”
Our recent poll illustrated that ending cosmetic testing on animals is an issue which unites voters across generations, genders, and political affiliations.
While it is disappointing that the opportunity to advance national cruelty free cosmetics language has been missed, we are thankful that a rollback of our progress was avoided.
We will continue to build support and campaign for a national prohibition. You can help by asking your US Representative to support the Humane Cosmetics Act.