The European Citizens' Initiative (ECI) “Save Cruelty Free Cosmetics - For a Europe without animal testing” ended successfully today. The German Animal Welfare Federation, which supported the citizens' initiative together with other organizations, is delighted with the high number of votes received within the one-year period: With over 1.4 million signatures, the ECI calls on the EU Commission to take action. Even though the votes still have to be officially validated, the necessary threshold of 1 million signatures has been far exceeded. In Germany, over 300,000 citizens spoke out against animal testing.
“We would like to thank everyone who supported the European Citizens' Initiative and became part of this great, historic movement for animals. Even if the current vote result is still provisional, the signal is already more than clear: European citizens will no longer tolerate cruel and questionable animal experiments in Europe,” commented Jessica Rosolowski, expert on alternative methods to animal experiments at the German Animal Welfare Federation. “The European Commission must act now. The suffering in laboratories must come to an end!”
Over 10.6 million animals are currently used in animal experiments in Europe every year - for basic research, but also in so-called safety tests for medicines or chemicals, as required by law. Despite the ban on animal testing for cosmetics that has been in place since 2013, manufacturers are even allowed to use chemical substances tested on animals in cosmetic products - because they are also used in other products such as cleaning agents, wall paints or medicines. In the meantime, the European Chemicals Agency is again demanding animal testing in some cases for ingredients that are used exclusively for cosmetics. The ECI clearly opposes this softening of the ban. The initiative also calls for a modernization of the EU Chemicals Regulation without animal testing and the development of a concrete plan to phase out animal testing. This also includes greater promotion of modern, animal-free research methods.
EU COMMISSION MUST REACT
The final number of valid signatures must now be determined in a lengthy process. Signatures in paper form will be added and invalid signatures will be sorted out. Only then can the ECI be submitted. Typically, around 20 percent of the total number of signatures may contain invalid data. Once over one million validated signatures have been reached, the European Commission must carefully examine the initiative. Within three months of receiving the initiative, it must then set out what measures it proposes in response to the citizens' initiative. There will also be a full hearing in the plenary of the European Parliament, followed by a possible vote.
