Body Shop calls for complete end to animal testing

By

Sandra Halliday

Published
Jun 2, 2017

Up-for-sale beauty giant The Body Shop is shouting loudly about one of the core principles on which it was founded with a renewed call for a global ban on cosmetics animal testing for both products and ingredients by 2020.

The company said this would revolutionise the beauty industry and protect millions of animals around the world.
It’s linking up with major non-profit group Cruelty Free International for the initiative and will be taking its case to the UN to request an international convention banning cosmetics testing on animals.

The business was founded in 1976 with a strongly ethical stance and promoted the idea of not testing on animals at a time when the industry’s testing processes for products and ingredients frequently used animals.

But while the anti-animal testing approach has been widely embraced by the beauty sector, the company said it is not universal and “the potential for animal testing is still a huge risk around the world, with over 80% of countries still having no laws against testing in cosmetics.”

This is despite the fact that most countries do not require safety data based on animal tests. Cruelty Free International estimated that around half a million animals are still used in cosmetics testing every year with rules currently patchwork, and legislation differing around the world leaving consumers ill-informed.

It added that there are now alternatives such as artificially grown human skin, that are, in the majority of cases, as effective as the animal test they replace and have been validated by authorities.

Jessie Macneil-Brown, senior manager of international campaigns and corporate responsibility at The Body Shop, said the new campaign “will finish what we both started. We are calling on at least eight million people from every corner of the globe who care about animal welfare to join our cause and sign our petition. With an international convention enforced, consumers would finally be confident that any cosmetics they buy are cruelty free. It's time to end animal testing for cosmetics purposes once and for all.”

The petition can be signed at any of the retailer’s stores and online at the e-activist.com website. Consumers are being encouraged to use the campaign hashtag, #ForeverAgainstAnimalTesting, on social media to raise awareness of the issue.