Import Ban on Animal Tested Cosmetics Near
After an extensive PETA campaign, with help from MP Maneka Gandhi and others, the Drugs Technical Advisory Board (DTAB), in its 65th meeting held on 25 November 2013, recommended the addition of a suitable provision under The Drugs and Cosmetics Rules, 1945, to prohibit the import of cosmetics that have been tested on animals abroad. This decision comes on the heels of recently enacted bans on the import, marketing and sale of cosmetics and their ingredients that have been tested on animals in the European Union and Israel and a recent decision to eliminate animal tests for cosmetics by the Bureau of Indian Standard (BIS), which prepares standards for cosmetics (IS 4011 (1997): Method of Test for Safety Evaluation of Cosmetics).
“We commend DTAB for its recommendation. Compliance with international standards can help ensure that cruel and outdated animal tests for lipstick and eye shadow become history around the globe”, says PETA India science policy adviser Dr Chaitanya Koduri, who holds an official seat on the BIS Cosmetics Sectional Committee. “PETA India looks forward to the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare officially bringing in a sales ban on cosmetics that have been tested on animals abroad and working with the government on the next step: a ban on testing household products, such as floor cleaners, on animals as well as a ban on the marketing and sale of household products that have been tested on animals in India.”
During cosmetics tests, harsh chemicals may be dripped into rabbits’ eyes, smeared onto animals’ abraded skin or forced down their throats. More than 1,200 companies around the world – including LUSH and The Body Shop as well as Indian companies Trumount Cosmoceuticals, Future Skin, Omved Lifestyle, Shahnaz Husain and others – have joined PETA’s list of companies that use only modern and reliable non-animal tests for their products.
You can help end consumer product tests on animals by taking action here.
