Peta answers your questions about animal experimentation for cosmetics

On this World Animal Day in Laboratories, Peta answers your questions about cosmetics tests.Are animals still used in cosmetics tests?How to make purchases without cruelty?We answered all your questions.Please share this information with your friends.Together, we can put pressure for things to change and all tests on animals stop!

1. What are the animals used in cosmetics tests?

Animal tests for cosmetics generally use rats, mice, guinea pigs or rabbits, which are raised to design in secret installations.These animals spend their lives confined in dismal cages and knowing only artificial light, bland food and the four walls of a laboratory.If they are lucky, they can receive a small toy, a material to make a nest or a shelter like "enrichment".These sensitive animals deserve so much more than being treated as disposable laboratory equipment.If we give them the chance, the male mice "sing" for their companions, the rats play hide and seek, rabbits hopping with excitement and guinea pigs like to "discuss".

1. How many animals are used in cosmetic tests?

The exact figure is not known, but it is estimated that at least 300,000 animals are used each year in tests of cosmetic products or ingredients just in China, so the global total is much higher.

1. What happens to animals during cosmetic tests?How are cosmetic products tested?

Cosmetics tests on animals, whether for finished products or their ingredients, are neither scientific, human, nor ethical.A single test for a cosmetic ingredient can use more than 1000 rats or rabbits.

To see if their offspring will be distorted in the uterus, the experimenters can force hundreds of rabbits with a cosmetic ingredient throughout the gestation before killing and dissecting them, them and their progeniture to be born.In other tests, the experimenters let the little birth, so that they know the same miserable fate as their mother.Experiments monitor the growth and survival of rabbits, and in some cases, they continue to administer the substance and force them to mate to observe the effects on the fertility and toxicity of the second generation of rabbits.

The notorious Draize tests are to place rabbits in compression cages so that they cannot struggle or wipe their eyes.The experimenters dismiss their eyelids and apply chemicals in the eye.In skin tests, just as horrible, experimenters generally apply chemicals to the shaved skin of rabbits to check the gravity of the reaction.Once the test is finished, they kill animals.

The rats used in inhalation tests are compressed in narrow tubes in which they are immobilized and forced to inhale substances for hours, sometimes every day for weeks or months.Then the experimenters kill them and dissect their bodies.

These are only a few of the ways that animals can be used in toxicity tests.You can find out more about the consequences of these tests here (in English).

1. Have the cosmetic tests on animals been prohibited in France and the EU?

Yes, animal tests and the marketing of tested products are prohibited (but continue to read because it is not the end of the story).

Prohibition of tests: animal tests for cosmetic products and their ingredients have been prohibited in the EU since 2009.

Prohibition of marketing: the prohibition of sale of cosmetic products and their ingredients tested on animals has been fully implemented in France and in the EU in March 2013.

1. So, since 2013, all cosmetics for sale in France and in the EU have been free from animal tests?

Nope.Despite the prohibition of tests and marketing, companies can sell products in France or in the EU even after they have been injected with guinea pigs, driven into the throat of rats or applied to the eyes of rabbits inChina or in other countries, as long as tests are not used to demonstrate product safety with regard to French or European standards.This means that companies can continue to pay animal tests in China - where they are required for many products - as long as they only rely on other data from methods not using animals forSell these products in France or in the EU.

To further complicate things, the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA), supported by the European Commission and the ECHA appeal chamber, continues to require new tests on animals for chemicals used exclusively as ingredientsof cosmetics within the framework of the REACH regulation (Registration, Evaluation, Authorization and Restriction of Chemicals).This policy undermines the prohibitions and goes against the intention of the legislators who created them: to ensure that animals no longer suffer and no longer die for cosmetic products.The ECHA claims that tests are necessary to demonstrate the safety of employees who manufacture or manipulate these substances, but test the ingredients over thousands of animals will not help protect employees.The fundamental biological differences between humans and other animals mean that the results of animal tests do not allow us to predict in a reliably what will happen in humans.

This is why it is always important to use the Beauty without Bunnies of Peta United States.

1. What types of products are classified as cosmetics in France and the EU?

The evaluation of what constitutes a cosmetic product is made on a case -by -case basis, but it encompasses a wide range of products other than makeup.

Cosmetic products generally include creams, emulsions, lotions, gels and oils for the skin, face masks, after-skin powders, hygienic powders, soaps, deodorants and anti-transpirants, Perfumes, post-shackles and other fragrances, preparations for bathing and shower (salts, foams, oils, gels), depilators, hair dyes, products to curl, smooth and fix the hair, Hair cleaning products (lotions, powders, shampoos), hair packaging products (lotions, creams, oils), hairdressing products (lotions, lacquers, shiny), shaving products (creams, foams, lotions) , make -up products and makeup products, products intended to be applied to the lips, products for the care of teeth and mouth, products for the care and makeup of nails, products for external external hygiene , pr Oduits to sunbathe, self-tanning products, products for skin whitening and anti-wrinkle products.

1. In which countries is animal experimentation prohibited?

Despite the problems related to the implementation and interpretation of the European ban, it represents a historic victory for animals and have made it possible to inspire similar prohibitions in countries like India, Israel,Turkey, New Zealand, Norway, Switzerland, Australia and other regions.

Many other countries around the world, including the United States and Canada, are currently considering adopting laws that would also prohibit animal tests for cosmetics.In the United States, several states have prohibited tests on cosmetics and their ingredients, but most of these laws include gaps that authorize the tests required by the regulatory authorities.

1. What are the countries that still practice cosmetics on animals?

China is the largest market to have a general requirement for animal tests for cosmetics, and some other countries, such as Russia, may require certain animal tests for cosmetics.

In 2012, Peta and its international affiliates revealed that some companies formerly without cruelty had secretly started to pay the Chinese government to test their products on animals in order to be able to sell them in China.Each year, experimenters submit hundreds of thousands of animals to cruel and fatal poisoning tests in which they are stuffed with products or chemicals are applied to their skin or in their eyes.

Thanks to the efforts of Peta United States, IIVS and a number of avant-garde companies that have joined the effort, the situation improves.In March 2021, the Chinese government announced that it had created a new path so that certain types of cruelty -free cosmetics can be sold in China - but that does not yet mean the end of all tests on animals.To learn more about the evolution of the situation in China, click here.

If other countries-including the United States-do not legally require cosmetics to be tested on animals, tests are nevertheless authorized.

1. What does "cruelty-free" mean?

The expression "cruelty-free" is often used.Beauty bloggers often mention it, and companies sometimes quote it in a "ethical code" on their website.Furthermore, labels such as "biological", "clean", "green" and "ecological" do not guarantee that a product has not been tested on animals or that it is vegan.There is simply no unique and worldwide legal definition.

But for Peta, "cruelty-free" means that a company or a brand has taken the position not to allow any tests on animals, including in its supply chain, for any reason and that its productsare vegans.

It is important to remember that products can be free from animal tests while containing ingredients of animal origin.The Beauty Without Bunnies program of Peta United States recognizes companies that do not allow animal tests like "animal test".But to be really without cruelty, a company must not only prohibit animal tests, but also refuse to use in its products any ingredient of animal origin, such as honey, beeswax or carmine. Dans le cadre du programme Beauty without Bunnies, ces produits sont désignés comme «AnimalTest–Free» et «végans».

This blog with a list of ingredients of animal origin and alternatives will help you decipher the labels of the products.

1. Can companies appear as cruelty without practicing animal tests?

It is easy to assume that all the cosmetics sold in the EU and in France are free from animal tests or that we can trust the allegations "without cruelty" appearing on packaging.Do not fall into this trap!

Some companies - such as Benefit, Bobbi Brown and Maybelline - claim that they do not carry out animal tests unless the law requires it.This generally means that they choose to sell in places where such requirements exist, thus passing profit before ethics by choosing to pay for animal tests, or by choosing to use ingredients tested on animalsin order to be able to extend their market.Do not buy at home!

Do not forget that the products tested on animals in other countries, such as China, can be sold in the EU if the data from the tests on animals carried out elsewhere is not used to check the safety of cosmetics in the'Ue.In addition, ingredients can be tested on animals as part of Reach.

1. How do you know if a product has been tested on animals?

The only way to be sure not to finance cruel and unnecessary tests on animals when you buy cosmetic products is to use the Global Database Beauty Without Bunnies of Peta United States, which lists more than 5,200 companies andmarks that do not test on animals.

1. How can a company be listed as "animal test-featured" or "peta-approved"?

To appear on the list of companies or brands that do not practice animal tests and wear the "animal test - freek" logo, companies must undertake never carry out, order, pay or authorize tests onanimals in any phase whatsoever of development, both for ingredients and for finished products.They must have concluded agreements with their suppliers ensuring that the latter will refrain from carrying out, carrying out, paying or authorizing animal tests for the ingredients purchased by the company.

1. What brands do not make animal tests?

We all have our own favorites and Peta applauds each of the companies and brands that have joined the ranks of those who are free from animal tests.

Use the Global Database Beauty Without Bunnies to be able to make your purchases in all conscience.

1. What brands are testing on animals?

As consumers, we all have the power to contribute to ending animal experimentation.Whenever we shop, we have the opportunity to vote with our wallet.Our daily choices send a strong message to companies: they will not have our money as long as they do, order or pay tests on animals.

1. What is the difference between "animal test - featured" and "vegan"?

Vegan products do not contain any ingredients of animal origin, while the term "animal test" means that companies refuse that their products or ingredients be tested on animals.Look for the products bearing the Peta United States logos "animal test-featured" and "vegan".

1. Should cosmetics be tested on animals?

Given the multitude of approaches without animals available to assess the safety of cosmetics and their ingredients, there is no excuse for carrying out animals on animals.In the rare cases where the safety of a cosmetic product or ingredient cannot be demonstrated by non -animal methods, it is not simply necessary to use it.The life of an animal is so much more important than a tube of lipstick or toothpaste.

1. Why are animal tests not reliable?

Animal toxicity tests start from the principle that the effect of a product or an ingredient on animals makes it possible to predict what will happen in human beings, but it is false.

Some of the tests on the animals required by law have not been validated, which means that their scientific basis, their reliability and their relevance for humans have not been demonstrated in a satisfactory manner.Even tests that have been validated may not be reliable and not produce the same result when the test is repeated.

If we take into account the biological differences between humans and animals commonly used in toxicity tests, as well as non -natural and stressful living conditions to which these animals are subject, we obtain meaningless results that do not protecthumans.

1. What can we use in place of animal experimentation?What are the alternative methods of non -animal experimentation?

EU prohibitions have caused a real boom in the development of non -animal methods to assess the safety of cosmetics and their ingredients.Higher approaches integrating the use of advanced tools such as three -dimensional cell models and advanced computer simulations are now commonly used to guarantee the safety of cosmetics without harmful to animals.

Currently, there is no reason for companies to inject lipstick ingredients to guinea pigs to verify if they have painful skin reactions, that they have rats with ingredients of shampoo duringweeks or months, causing diseases, convulsions, weight loss and death, or that they administer ingredients of face cream to rabbits in gestation to see if their newborns will be distorted.

1. Why do companies continue to test on animals?

By choosing to sell their products in countries like China which still require animal tests, companies pass profit before ethics and condemn animals to suffer and die for a lipstick or a shampoo.The situation in France and the EU is more complex, and some ingredient suppliers actively fight against test requests.

Our message to regulatory authorities and companies are clear: only methods that do not use animals should be used to put a cosmetic product on the market.If this is not possible, the ingredient should not be used.

1. What does Peta do to help animals used in cosmetic tests?

Peta and its affiliates in the world have been fighting for decades against the tests of cosmetic products on animals by organizing eye -catching and provocative demonstrations on cruelty in laboratories.We also disseminate information on the reasons why animal tests are not reliable and not applicable (even dangerous!) For humans and we support modern science without animals.

Behind the scenes, the scientists of Peta and its affiliates meet the legislators, the brands of cosmetics and the suppliers of ingredients, take a stand in legal and administrative affairs, prepare scientific articles and technical comments, and intervene during conferences andinternational workshops.The association has also helped finance the validation of a superior animal test which can be used to help replace the painful tests carried out on mice and guinea pigs.

Recently, PETA has united its forces to those of other protection groups of animals and companies without cruelty to press the president of the European Commission to suspend all requests for testing cosmetic ingredients on animals and to allowcompanies to demonstrate the safety of ingredients using only non -animal methods.

We will continue to do everything in our power until no animal is killed for an eyeshadow or a deodorant.

1. What can I do to help the animals used in cosmetics tests?

Use the Beauty Without Bunnies list of Peta United States to search for businesses and brands that do not test on animals, and make sure that the personal care products you buy do not contain ingredients of animal origin.

Join us to ask the European Commission and the ECHA to suspend all the requests for animal experimentation in progress for the chemicals used exclusively as cosmetic ingredients.

Knowledge is power.Share this page with your friends and family and encourage them to always choose cruelty-free products.