Proposed Law Likely to Mean Tests on Animals for Cosmetics Ingredients in U.S.!

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Everyone wants safe ingredients in their lotions and shampoos, right? Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) recently introduced the Personal Care Products Safety Act, which would require the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to review the safety of at least five ingredients used in personal-care products annually in order to determine whether those ingredients should continue to be used. Sounds like something we can all support, right?



WRONG. The proposed regulations will likely mean misery and death for animals. Right now, tests on animals for cosmetics are not required in the U.S. This bill could drastically change that by requiring such tests. The bill's language explicitly allows for tests on animals to be performed as part of the FDA's "review" process, even though these archaic tests are illegal in much of the world, including the European Union, Israel, and India.



Don't be fooled by language in the bill calling upon the FDA to "encourage" the use of non-animal testing methods, because language like this means that tests on animals will still be allowed and will continue to be an anticipated step in the FDA's "review" process. Encouraging non-animal testing is not the same as banning the use of animals. Some of the bill's sponsors have even misled the public into believing that this bill will not increase the number of tests on animals, but a close reading shows otherwise. We've asked that an explicit ban on animal tests be added to the bill. Only this will prevent more animals from dying for cosmetics products.



Science has shown us time and time again that tests on animals are not only cruel and excruciatingly painful but also unreliable predictors of what will happen when a substance or product comes into contact with humans. Many advanced, scientifically superior, more affordable, and humane non-animal testing methods are already in wide use around the globe to evaluate the safety of product ingredients.



We need your help to ensure that this bill does not become a law mandating tests on animals! Any new regulations governing cosmetics and personal-care products in the U.S. must contain an explicit ban on tests on animals or the U.S. risks backsliding into requiring these deadly poisoning tests.



Please contact your legislators today and urge them refuse to support the Personal Care Products Act unless an explicit ban on animal tests is included.