The Safe Cosmetics and Personal Care Products Act of 2013 (SCPCPA) is a legislation that is intended to overhaul the way that cosmetic products are regulated in the U.S.

Read more on Logical Harmony: http://www.logicalharmony.net/animal-testing-soon-required-law-united-states/

Read more on Leaping Bunny: http://www.leapingbunny.org/SafeCosmeticsAct.php

Recently published research shows that up to 11.5 million animals would be required to test and retest finished products and ingredients for safety, reversing a decades-long decline in animal testing for cosmetics. Altex recently published an online first summary of the Safety Evaluations Under the Proposed US Safe Cosmetics and Personal Care Products Act of 2013: Animal Use and Cost Estimates.

The proposed Safe Cosmetics and Personal Care Products Act of 2013 calls for a new evaluation program for cosmetic ingredients in the US, with the new assessments initially dependent on expanded animal testing. This paper considers possible testing scenarios under the proposed Act and estimates the number of test animals and cost under each scenario. It focuses on theimpact for the first 10 years of testing, the period of greatest impact on animals and costs. The analysis suggests the first 10 years of testing under the Act could evaluate, at most, about 50% of ingredients used in cosmetics. Testing during this period would cost about $ 1.7-$ 9 billion and 1-11.5 million animals. By test year 10, alternative, high-throughput test methods under development are expected to be available, replacing animal testing and allowing rapid evaluation of all ingredients. Given the high cost in dollars and animal lives of the first 10 years for only about half of ingredients, a better choice may be to accelerate development of high-throughput methods. This would allow evaluation of 100% of cosmetic ingredients before year 10 at lower cost and without animal testing.

The rationale for the Safe Cosmetics and Personal Care Products Act of 2013 (SCPCPA) is not clearly stated in the act.

While it appears that the ultimate goal is to create better alternatives to animal testing, this is simply a massive step in the wrong direction. It is also in direct contradiction to major leaps forward in the past year such as the bans on animal testing in the EU, India, Israel, and Brazil. Even China, where animal testing is currently required by law, may be adjusting their stance later this year.

Read more on Logical Harmony: http://www.logicalharmony.net/animal-testing-soon-required-law-united-states/

Read more on Leaping Bunny: http://www.leapingbunny.org/SafeCosmeticsAct.php

Actions you can take:

Oppose the issue on Open Congress. Thank you to Logical Harmony reader Monica for letting me know about this one! You can find the bill on Open Congress and directly send your rep a letter about opposing the bill. Find the Safe Cosmetics and Personal Care Products Act of 2013 (SCPCPA) here - http://www.opencongress.org/bill/hr1385-113/show

Thank you to Logical Harmony reader Monica for letting me know about this one! You can find the bill on Open Congress and directly send your rep a letter about opposing the bill. Find the Safe Cosmetics and Personal Care Products Act of 2013 (SCPCPA) here - http://www.opencongress.org/bill/hr1385-113/show Support organizations that are fighting to spread the message about cruelty free living! Follow these organizations on social networks and share their updates with your readers. They often set up social media and letter writing campaigns – take part in these!

Follow these organizations on social networks and share their updates with your readers. They often set up social media and letter writing campaigns – take part in these! Support your favorite cruelty free and vegan blogs! These blogs are an easy way to find out about brands to support, but it’s also a great community to connect with. Doing what you can to spread the word about how important it is to use cruelty free options will impact things in a major way. Especially if you start sharing posts with your friends who do not currently buy cruelty free items and get them to start supporting a cruelty free lifestyle.

These blogs are an easy way to find out about brands to support, but it’s also a great community to connect with. Doing what you can to spread the word about how important it is to use cruelty free options will impact things in a major way. Especially if you start sharing posts with your friends who do not currently buy cruelty free items and get them to start supporting a cruelty free lifestyle. Share this post! Help spread awareness and education by Pinning, Tweeting, emailing, and sharing on Facebook. Here’s a tweet that you can easily copy & paste: Animal Testing Could Soon be Required by Law in the United States. Please don’t let this happen! http://bit.ly/1lBKOq1 via @LogicalHarmony

Help spread awareness and education by Pinning, Tweeting, emailing, and sharing on Facebook. Here’s a tweet that you can easily copy & paste: Animal Testing Could Soon be Required by Law in the United States. Please don’t let this happen! http://bit.ly/1lBKOq1 via @LogicalHarmony Share the Leaping Bunny post about this act! Leaping Bunny created a quick and easy to understand breakdown, which can be found here. Share this on Twitter, Facebook, and email it to people you know.

Read more on Logical Harmony: http://www.logicalharmony.net/animal-testing-soon-required-law-united-states/

Read more on Leaping Bunny: http://www.leapingbunny.org/SafeCosmeticsAct.php