Parliament committee calls for immediate ban on cosmetics tested on animals
The European Parliament's Environment Committee has demanded an immediate ban on the sale of new cosmetic products tested on animals where other validated testing methods exist. Parliamentarians also wish to see a complete ban on the sale of any new cosmetics tested on animals after five years and a ban on the testing of cosmetics on animals from the end of 2004. The vote by the committee is likely to lead to a dispute between the Parliament and the Council as the Council has already dismissed a ban on testing as well as a ban on sales. If the Council does not accept the Parliament's position, the matter will have to be resolved via the conciliation procedure. The committee believes that giving industry more time to develop alternative testing methods has not worked, thus justifying a total ban on animal testing. A ban would give impetus to the development of alternative methods, the committee believes. In order to ensure that animal testing is not relocated to third countries, the committee also agreed that the mandatory labelling of products and ingredients tested on animals should be introduced. Measures should also be taken to ensure that products tested on animals are not put on the Community market after a specified date and that manufacturers can advertise the fact that no animal testing has been used in the development of their product. Finally, the committee agreed that all animal-tested cosmetics should be clearly labelled 'tested on animals' as an interim step until a full marketing ban is introduced. The Parliament will vote on the Environment committee recommendation in June.