Cruelty Free vs Animal Testing in Cosmetics.
Despite the fact that in Europe experimentation with animals on cosmetic products is prohibited, many brands continue to carry out tests on animals to be able to export their products to other countries such as China, where these are necessary to be able to market the product. According to the organization PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment Of Animals), more than 100 million animals are used each year in the United States to evaluate different chemical, cosmetic and food products.
For many years, animal testing was considered necessary to verify the safety and effectiveness of cosmetic products. Since before marketing a cosmetic it is necessary to carry out a toxicological evaluation, to verify that the product is safe. In other cases, the effectiveness of the cosmetic must be tested to ensure that the consumer is not being misled. This is why, unfortunately, even today millions of animals are used for the development of cosmetic products and medicines.
Because animal testing has long been the shame of the cosmetic industry, popular pressure prompted Europe to take action banning the sale and manufacture of cosmetic products that have previously been tested on laboratory animals in the REGULATION (EC) No. 1223/2009 OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL of November 30, 2009 on cosmetic products. In 2013 the deadline for the application of this law ended, and since then, testing on animals for cosmetic ingredients or finished products has been prohibited. However, this regulation presents some exceptions, since companies that export their products to countries where testing on animals is mandatory, continue to carry out tests on animals. In the United States a bill called Humane Cosmetics Act (H.R. 4148) that prohibits animal experimentation in the cosmetic development process was initiated in 2014, but only in 2017 did the legislative process enter the first stage. Although the biggest barrier to eliminating animal testing in cosmetics is still China. In the Asian giant, the cosmetic industry has shown rapid economic development, being a huge cosmetic market where multinational companies want to sell their products. Under the amended law on June 30, 2014, China issued the legal requirement that makeup, perfume, and skin, hair, and nail care products manufactured and sold in China must have been tested on animals previously. to its commercialization.
Despite efforts in some countries to ban cosmetic testing on animals (in addition to the EU, it is banned in Switzerland, Iceland, Israel, Norway, New Zealand, India, Guatemala, Serbia and Turkey), it is still allowed in 80% of the countries of the world.
In Planthia, in addition to considering this cruel, obsolete and ineffective practice, we believe that it is the responsibility of companies to apply ethical behaviors that avoid animal suffering. For this reason, all our products and ingredients are and will be 100% cruelty-free.
If you want to have more information on this topic, we recommend you read the following articles:
Animal testing and its alternatives: the most important omics is economics
Alternatives to animal testing: A review
