We have today written to government Ministers across the European Union urging them to step in to save cruelty free cosmetics. Our letter raises growing concerns about the ever-narrowing interpretation by EU civil servants of Europe’s bans on animal testing for cosmetics and the sale of newly-tested cosmetics.

We argue that the view of the European Commission and the European Chemicals Agency that animal tests on ingredients for non-cosmetic purposes can be used to prove the safety of cosmetics conflicts with logical conclusions from the 2016 Court of Justice opinion that a company cannot rely on data from such tests to show that a cosmetic is safe.

Reminding Ministers of the overwhelming support for the bans, our Public Affairs Director, Kerry Postlewhite, writes: “You will undoubtedly be aware of the weight of public opinion behind the bans at the time and how popular they have since been, especially as consumers become ever more aware of their role in ethical and responsible consumption and production. The European bans have – as evidenced in a recent report by the Joint Research Centre – spurred the development of non-animal testing not only in cosmetics but far beyond. They have also been models for similar bans around the world. It is therefore devastating to witness the gradual erosion of these bans – and of the clear political will expressed by the Council of Ministers and European Parliament when they agreed the final text of the then Cosmetics Directive – by the European Commission and the European Chemicals Agency.”

You can help stand up for cruelty free cosmetics and make sure the EU cosmetics testing bans are honoured by signing and sharing our petition to stop the overREACH.