Now that the European Commission has responded to the demands of the successful European Citizens' Initiative (ECI) "Save Cruelty Free Cosmetics - For a Europe without animal testing", the German Animal Welfare Federation sees good approaches. For example, the Commission is committed to the goal of abolishing animal testing for chemicals and accelerating the long-term phase-out of animal testing in research and education. However, when it comes to the demand to strengthen the ban on animal testing for cosmetics, the Commission is not in line with this, which is sharply criticized by animal rights activists.
"It is disappointing and absolutely incomprehensible that the Commission apparently sees no need for action to strengthen the ban on animal testing for cosmetics," criticizes Jessica Rosolowski, expert on alternative methods to animal testing at the German Animal Welfare Federation. Although it has been illegal to test cosmetics on animals for ten years, manufacturers have been instructed by the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) to test purely cosmetic ingredients on animals. "Where cosmetic-only ingredients cannot be tested for occupational and environmental safety to the satisfaction of the European Chemicals Agency using non-animal methods, approval must be consistently refused instead of animal testing. There are already more than enough cosmetic ingredients available," says Rosolowski.
The EU Commission has promised to draw up a road map for phasing out legally required animal testing, for example for testing industrial chemicals, pesticides, biocides and pharmaceuticals. The German Animal Welfare Federation welcomes this decision. "It must be clear that such a roadmap must be ambitious in order to put an end to the painful and questionable experiments," says Rosolowski. It is also pleasing that animal experiments for research purposes are not untouchable for the EU Commission. The Commission wants to accelerate the phasing out of animal experiments in research, training and education. In order to herald a completely animal-free Europe of the future, European citizens had called for the gradual abolition of all animal experiments in the ECI. According to the EU Commission, there will be no legislative proposal to this effect, even though it is committed to this goal in principle.
CITIZENS' INITIATIVE MET WITH BROAD SUPPORT
As part of the ECI launched in August 2021, 1.2 million people voted in favor of strengthening the ban on animal testing for cosmetics, reshaping EU chemicals legislation and developing a strategy for the gradual abolition of all animal testing. In addition to the German Animal Welfare Federation and other European animal welfare and animal rights organizations, the ECI was also supported by well-known companies in the cosmetics industry. The broad participation shows that not only society but also the industry wants to accelerate the paradigm shift away from animal testing and towards modern methods. The German Animal Welfare Federation will therefore continue to fight for an end to animal testing at European level and - as part of the current campaign "Now more animal protection!" - campaign, the German Animal Welfare Federation is also calling on the Federal Government to phase out animal testing in Germany:
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