PETA Takes On L’Oreal, Procter & Gamble And Other Brands Over Animal Testing

For Immediate Release:

11 September 2014

Contact:

Hannah Levitt +44 (0) 20 7837 6327, ext 235; [email protected]

Indian Beauty & Hygiene Association and Its Members Urged to Support, Not Obstruct, Progress to End Animal Tests

London – Today, PETA – in conjunction with PETA India – launched an online campaign aimed at the Indian Beauty & Hygiene Association (IBHA) and its small group of members, which largely includes European brands, such as L’Oréal and Unilever, to urge them to support India’s existing ban on testing cosmetics and their ingredients on animals as well as that country’s proposed ban on the sale of cosmetics that were tested on animals anywhere in the world. PETA launched the initiative following numerous high-level meetings in which the IBHA and some of its members made it clear that, although their websites speak out against animal testing, they’re in favour of weakening the law to allow them to continue animal tests in India as well as to continue to import animal-tested cosmetics for sale there.

Animal tests for cosmetics were banned in India on 21 May, and a ban on the importation of animal-tested cosmetics for sale in India is pending. If that ban is passed, India’s laws will be in line with those of the European Union and Israel, which have already banned animal tests for cosmetics as well as the marketing and sale of animal-tested cosmetics. Many IBHA members are European and aren’t permitted to test on animals for cosmetics in their own countries.

Other IBHA members include Procter & Gamble, Chanel, ELCA Cosmetics (a subsidiary of Estée Lauder), Johnson & Johnson, NIVEA, Avon and Shiseido. In contrast, more than 1,500 companies around the world – including LUSH and The Body Shop – refuse to test their products on animals.

“The Indian government carefully considered and implemented the ban on testing cosmetics on animals, including by force-feeding them and applying chemicals to their skin, yet a handful of Western companies are now trying to turn back this progress”, says PETA UK Director Mimi Bekhechi. “PETA is calling on companies that market their products in India to modernise and to support – not obstruct – India’s efforts to stop cruel animal testing for cosmetics.”

During tests for cosmetics, harsh chemicals may be dripped into animals’ eyes, smeared onto their abraded skin or forced down their throats.

For more information, please visit PETA.org.uk.

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