Whilst I may have chosen a rather light hearted title, todays post is about a serious matter that means a lot to me and should do to all you other beauty lovers out there.
As we all know, there is a lot of animal testing that goes on in the world of beauty. Both with finished products but also with the ingredients that they are made with. This is wrong. Why should a rabbit, mouse, guinea pig or any other creature be harmed due to the human desire to look beautiful? I care for two incredibly well loved pets; Florence who is my little roborovski hamster and Lolly who is my uber grumpy kitty (she doesn't like having things poked in her eyes, I know, I've had to give her eye drops in the past). Would you ever allow someone to try out their new mascara or facial peel on a pet? Of course not, so why is it ok for those things to be tested on any other animal?
This has been the general opinion for many years now. During the 80's and 90's animal testing in cosmetics was a wide spread practice and as it happened behind closed doors, many buyers had any clue about what was happening. When it finally came to light there was a complete public outcry and huge numbers of people approached Members of Parliament demanding laws be passed to put an end to the cruelty. This led to some cosmetic companies adopting their own voluntary code and publishing their own set of animal testing policies. However, because this wasn't a necessary step many companies still tested their products and ingredients on animals, and the animal cruelty stayed as wide spread as ever.
Then, in 1993 finally the people had victory. A legislation was passed by the European Government to control the use of animals in cosmetic testing. This legislation bans the act of testing both ingredients and finished cosmetic products on animals, as well as banning the sale in Europe of cosmetic products that have been tested on animals.
So why has this not happened?
When the original legislation was passed, companies wire given a five year period to prepare for the ban to be put into place on 1st January 1998. However, some of the biggest players in the cosmetics industry repeatedly lobby for the implementation date to be moved back again and again. Whenever the date draws near they petition again for another delay to the starting date. This has now been happening for 30 years.
What can We Do?
The current implementation of this legislation is due in 2013 and there is currently a request for yet another delay, this time of 10 years, being considered by the European Government. To stop this request being granted to the money obsessed, heartless companies who do not already protect animals of their own accord, what we need to do is let our government know that we all feel just as strongly about this as we did 30 years ago when the fight began. To do this, all you have to do is sign the petition to show that you are against animal testing for cosmetics.
You can find the petition *here*. Please sign and show your support. The law has already been passed, all we have to do is raise our voices and enforce it.
Will you be signing?
Annie x
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