Recently, the Australian government announced that it has banned the sale of cosmetics that have been tested on animals, such as soap, shampoo, perfume and other daily necessities. Prior to this, the European Union, Israel, India and other places successively promulgated similar bans, and this move by the Australian government led to a complete ban on animal testing of cosmetics in Australia.
Animal experiments in the cosmetics industry have attracted the attention of European and American animal protection organizations. Many animal welfare organizations and most Australians welcome and recognize the Australian government’s ban. Dr. Jones, SPCA's chief scientist, pointed out that about 27,000 animals are used to test cosmetics and their ingredients each year. These animal experiments are controversial. For example, in the Draize test method, experimenters drop mascara and other cosmetics directly into the eyes of animals (such as rabbits) to test the irritation of cosmetic ingredients. According to Jones, these animal experiments in the cosmetics industry are cruel and unnecessary. According to a survey conducted by Nexusesearch in 2013, 85% of Australians do not approve animal experiments in the cosmetics research and development process, and 81% prohibit the use of animal-based cosmetics to enter the market. We support the law.
The Australian government’s ban also responded to the BeCrueltyFree movement’s call. The global BeCrueltyFree campaign was launched in 2012 to stop animal testing in the cosmetics industry. Its members include Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, India, Japan, South Korea, New Zealand, Taiwan and the United States. At present, countries such as the European Union, Iran, Norway, India and New Zealand have banned cosmetic testing. The United States, Canada, and Russia are in the proposal stage, while South Korea and other countries conditionally ban cosmetic testing. Do it. .. Regarding how to ensure the safety of cosmetics, Australia's long-term effort to reduce animal testing is that many cosmetics in Australia use recognized ingredients and incorporate new non-animal testing methods. The report states that the company has announced the cancellation of animal experiments. , Still able to produce innovative, safe and effective beauty products.
But the cosmetics industry has never stopped the debate about whether to stop animal testing. When the European Union completely banned the sale of cosmetics including animal experiments in 2013, the President of the European Cosmetics Association pointed out that the new regulations will have an adverse effect on the research and development capabilities of the European cosmetics manufacturing industry. The greater controversy mainly focused on the safety of cosmetics. Since the first ban on animal testing of animal cosmetics was promoted in 2003, the European Union has been working hard to develop alternative methods. Between 2007 and 2011, the European Union invested nearly 240 million euros to find alternatives to animal experiments, but the development process is still not optimistic. According to an official report from the European Union, only four of the seven toxicology endpoints as of 2009 were relatively successful, but the three toxicology endpoints as of 2013 have been verified. There are currently no other options. Including repetitive toxicity, such as allergy and carcinogenesis, reproductive toxicity and toxicology. Nevertheless, due to pressure from organizations such as the Animal Protection Association, the European Union has been banning animal testing in animal cosmetics globally and the sale of tested cosmetics on animals since 2013. It has become the largest zero-animal testing cosmetics market.
"Global Times" once interviewed a person in the Chinese cosmetics industry and said that in the past, the ingredients of cosmetics were tested in accordance with drug standards and were released after animal experiments. The results of animal experiments are inherently uncertain, but long-term large-scale iterative tests are required to prove that alternative methods can achieve the same reliability as animal experiments. Some alternatives proposed by the industry have not yet reached this level of reliability. ..
In China, animal experiments on imported cosmetics and special cosmetics are required. As a result, some cosmetics companies refused to sell their products in China. In response to the ban on animal testing of cosmetics in major economies and markets around the world, some scholars said that China is safer than the EU and India’s “universal” ban on animal testing of various cosmetics. He suggested that more consideration should be given to the actual needs of the assessment. Gradually use proven alternative methods, and gradually ban corresponding cosmetic animal experiments.
In addition, according to the Australian Times this month, international giants in the cosmetics industry such as Chanel, Estee Lauder, Unilieber, LeBron, Johnson and Johnson are still experimenting with animals. A spokesperson for Unileaver said that Unileaver has adopted many non-animal testing methods for consumers to evaluate product safety and will continue to develop new methods until they completely replace animal testing. Said. There was an animal protection organization at the end of last year. Companies such as Estee Lauder and Revlon have been removed from the "Cruel Free" list because some of their cosmetics are sold in the UK and have undergone independent animal testing required by the Chinese government.
Many animal protection organizations in Europe and the United States are very concerned about experiments on grooming animals, but it is worth noting that the scale of this issue is very limited. According to EU statistics, there are 11 million animals used in experiments in the EU every year, of which only 0.35% are used for grooming animals. According to government statistics, since the ban on beauty testing in 2013, the amount of animal testing in the UK has increased by 8% year-on-year, the largest increase in more than 30 years. Therefore, some scholars questioned that the ban on animal cosmetics experiments is just a superficial article, covering up the deterioration of animal protection for animal experiments. Australia’s new government measures do not include animal experiments in clinical medicine, drug development and medical research.
Unlike medicines and medical equipment, cosmetics are not an integral part of human life. Should it sacrifice other lives in the pursuit of physical beauty? When this question rises to the height of morality and morality, it seems difficult for us to give the correct answer. However, there is no doubt that the development of new alternatives for non-animal experiments has become a general trend in the cosmetics industry. As alternative methods continue to mature, animal cosmetics experiments will gradually decrease. At the same time, it is necessary to advocate to ensure the welfare of experimental animals based on 3R exchange, reduction and purification and other animal experiment principles, and to regulate their experimental behavior in various fields such as drug development and medical research.