Introduced by Congressman Jim Moran, The Humane Cosmetics Act (H.R. 4148), aims at ensuring animals are not harmed in the process of creating or manufacturing cosmetics.
“The U.S. can and should phase out the use of animals in cosmetic safety testing. Not only are animal-based tests fundamentally inhumane, they also rely on outmoded science that can fail to accurately predict safety for humans,” said Representative Moran. “This legislation would encourage the use of testing alternatives that are more effective and cheaper to conduct, helping the American cosmetic industry remain the dominant, and humane, leader in the global cosmetics market.”
Testing and marketing bans
If it would be enacted, The Humane Cosmetics Act, H.R. 4148, would make it unlawful for anyone to conduct or commission cosmetic animal testing in the U.S., and would prohibit selling, offering for sale or transporting any cosmetics in interstate commerce if the final product or any component was developed or manufactured using animal testing.
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This Federal bill is endorsed by animal rights organisations, such as The Humane Society of the United States, the Humane Society Legislative Fund and Humane Society International, along with members and stakeholders of the personal care products industry, including Lush, Jack Black, Biao skincare and Aubrey Organics.
“Our customers and ingredient suppliers support the Humane Cosmetics Act, and we urge members of the House of Representatives to co-sponsor this important bill. We believe all cosmetics should be cruelty-free,” said Lush North America CEO & President Mark Wolverton.
International trend
Bans on animal-tested cosmetics have been implemented in the 28 states of the European Union, and in Israel. India has prohibited domestic animal testing for cosmetic products and ingredients, and is working on a follow-up import and sales ban. The State of São Paulo, Brazil, recently signed a bill prohibiting cosmetics testing on animals, and the Brazilian federal regulatory body for animal experiments will be voting on this issue later this month.
In China, where animal testing has historically been required, the Chinese Food and Drug Administration announced it will remove the mandatory animal testing for non-essential domestically produced cosmetics in June 2014.
Chances to be adopted?
The international trend is clearly toward the ban of animal tests for cosmetics. The bill was assigned to a congressional committee, which will consider it before possibly sending it on to the House or Senate as a whole. Statistics show that this bill has a 4% chance of getting past committee first. Furthermore, only 11% of bills made it past committee and only about 3% were enacted in 2011–2013.
