Federal Bill Introduced to Ban Animal Testing in the USA!

Federal Bill Introduced to Ban Animal Testing in the USA!

Yesterday, a very important federal bill was introduced to Ban Animal Testing in the USA. U.S. Representative Jim Moran (D-VA) has introduced this bill to ban animal testing for cosmetics! This is huge!  The Humane Cosmetics Act would ban animal testing for cosmetics after a 1 year phase in and follow with a 3 year phase in for a ban on the sale of any animal tested cosmetics.

The Humane Cosmetics Act, H.R. 4148, would:

• Make it unlawful for anyone to conduct or commission cosmetic animal testing in the U.S.
• 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.

This bill is endorsed by The Humane Society of the United States, Humane Society Legislative Fund and Humane Society International, along with members and stakeholders of the personal care products industry, including LUSH Fresh Handmade Cosmetics, Jack Black, Biao skincare and Aubrey Organics. The bill is also endorsed by Cruelty Free International.

Facts

• There are thousands of existing cosmetic ingredients with histories of safe use. These ingredients allow more than 500 cruelty-free companies to innovate while remaining true to their values. For new ingredients, a growing number of proven, non-animal tests are becoming available each year.
• Animal toxicity tests, which have never been validated by a regulatory body, represent an outdated science of techniques that are not adequate to predict human safety. The future of safety testing relies on advanced technologies, including computational and human cell or artificial tissue based models, which are already in use. These methods are based on human biology and are more predictive of human reactions than animal tests.
• Rabbits, guinea pigs, mice and rats are used in painful cosmetics tests that usually result in death.
• The U.S. Food and Drug Administration does not require use of animal testing methods to prove the safety of cosmetics.
• A poll conducted by Lake Research and commissioned by The HSUS and HSLF found that 73 percent of American voters would be in favor of federal legislation that would begin to phase out and eventually end animal testing for cosmetic products and ingredients. The majority of voters (55 percent) said they would favor this legislation strongly. Three in four voters said they would feel safer, or as safe, if non-animal methods were used to test the safety of a cosmetic instead of animal testing.
• Be Cruelty-Free U.S.A. is led by The Humane Society of the United States and Humane Legislative Fund.

So please take action for those who can’t speak up for themselves:

1. Send a letter to your representative asking them to co-sponsor the bill via the Humane Society of the United States

2. Sign the Cruelty Free International petition calling on the House of Representatives to support the Humane Cosmetics Act