Australia bans cosmetic animal testing nationwide

Australia is prepared to ban animal testing, nation-wide, of all cosmetics, beginning in July of 2017.

Any products that have been tested on animals or any products containing anything that has been tested on animals will be banned.

“We no longer need to test cosmetics on animals and many countries, including the European Union, have banned the use of cosmetic ingredients tested on animals,” said Assistant Health Minister, Ken Wyatt, adding "testing the ingredients of cosmetics on living creatures is a completely unnecessary cruelty and it’s time Australia joined a growing number of communities by banning it,”

The country has political support across the aisle for the movement.

The change was pushed by community groups, including the #BeCrueltyFree campaign.

Hannah Stuart, of the #BeCrueltyFree Australia campaign, said: “Using live animals to cruelly test new ingredients for cosmetics such as hair dyes and skin cream is ethically unjustified, so we’re thrilled that following motions recently passed by both the Senate and the House, the Government has now promised specific legislation to ban cosmetics cruelty. There is a growing global trend towards eliminating the sale of newly animal tested beauty products and their ingredients, and today’s announcement will put Australia on the map as the next country to say NO to cosmetics cruelty.”

“Our #BeCrueltyFree Australia campaign looks forward to working with the Government and all parties to develop meaningful legislation that bans both animal testing and the sale of cosmetics products or ingredients newly tested on animals abroad, thereby ensuring such legislation reflects the will of Australians and aligns with international precedent.

"Without a legislative sales ban there is nothing to prevent cosmetics animal testing taking place here in Australia, or overseas during development of products sold in our shops. Such bans are already in place across the European Union, Israel and India, and there is now growing worldwide momentum towards ending the marketing of cruel cosmetics. A similar legislative ban in Australia will be good for animals, consumers and science, and it’s what the overwhelming majority of Australian citizens want.”