Dove and The Body Shop Join PETA in Calling On the EU to Save Cruelty-Free Cosmetics

Dove and The Body Shop have joined PETA, Cruelty Free Europe, and Humane Society International Europe as well as Eurogroup for Animals and the European Coalition to End Animal Experiments, who represent more than 100 member organisations from 26 EU member states, in an urgent move to mobilise 1 million European citizens to defend cruelty-free cosmetics in Europe in the face of threats to its longstanding ban on animal testing for cosmetics.

Polls show that three quarters of adults in EU member states agree that animal testing for cosmetic products and their ingredients is unacceptable in all circumstances, and 70% want a plan to phase out all animal testing. It’s sad that – once again – we have to fight a battle that Europe’s citizens thought they had already won, but with a successful European Citizens’ Initiative (ECI), we can make decision-makers listen, protect the groundbreaking bans, and secure concerted action to end the suffering of animals in EU laboratories for good.

What Happened to the Bans?

In 2004, after decades of campaigning by consumers, animal protection organisations, and several companies, the EU banned the testing of cosmetics products on animals. In 2009, it prohibited tests for cosmetics ingredients and, finally, in 2013, it prohibited the sale of cosmetics that had been tested on animals. The EU’s approach became the blueprint for regulatory change in countries around the world.

Yet, recent test requirements from the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) effectively destroy the bans and threaten the additional progress the European Parliament has been boldly calling for since 2018 – a global ban on all animal testing for cosmetics by 2023.

Major Players in the Beauty Industry Support the Campaign

The Body Shop has been campaigning relentlessly against the practice of animal testing for cosmetics since 1989 – helping to lead the charge towards the current ban in Europe – while Dove has spent 15 years working to change the beauty industry for the better through its “Campaign for Real Beauty” and the Dove Self-Esteem Project.

Proudly certified by PETA US as animal test–free, Dove has supported bans to end animal testing globally, working alongside lawmakers, animal protection organisations, and like-minded companies to achieve this goal.

The two beauty brands have come together to galvanise consumers to take action to save Europe’s ban on animal testing by signing an ECI – a mechanism by which EU citizens can help shape the EU by calling on the European Commission to propose new laws.

ECHA Is Proposing New Animal Testing on Existing Ingredients

ECHA is calling for new animal testing on ingredients that have been safely used by consumers and handled safely in factories for many years. If its policy is upheld, millions more animals could be subjected to cruel tests – even those solely used for cosmetics – when there are other ways to generate safety data.

The Time to Act Is Now

Animal testing is not necessary to ensure safety, thanks to modern, human-relevant, non-animal methods, which scientists have been developing and using for decades.

Speaking with a united voice to end animal testing for beauty products, The Body Shop, Dove, and PETA and other animal protection organisations are calling on consumers to sign the Save Cruelty-Free Cosmetics ECI, demanding that the European Commission do the following:

1. Protect and strengthen the cosmetics animal testing ban

The Commission must initiate legislative change to achieve consumer, worker, and environmental protection for all cosmetics ingredients without new tests on animals for any purpose at any time.

2. Transform EU chemicals regulation

The Commission should ensure human health and the environment are protected by managing chemicals without the addition of new animal testing requirements.

3. Modernise regulatory science in the EU

The Commission must commit, before the end of its current term of office, to a legislative proposal plotting a road map to phase out all animal testing in the EU.

Will You Join Us?

Together, we aim to reach 1 million signatures in the fastest time ever for an ECI – sending a clear message that ECHA’s demands for new testing go against the wishes of EU citizens and against the policy of animal testing as a last resort, which is backed by the European Commission.

But we can’t do it alone.

European citizens, regardless of where they live, can sign the ECI and tell the European Commission that they won’t accept broken promises from Europe or regulations that mean animals suffer and die for cosmetics.

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