24 July 2013

Animal Advocates Urge John Key to Hop To It and Ban Animal Testing For Cosmetics

Tomorrow, animal advocacy organisations SAFE and Humane Society International representatives will present a 15,500 strong petition to Parliament, calling for Prime Minister John Key to ‘hop to it’ and ban animal testing for cosmetics in New Zealand.

Accompanied by actor Michelle Langstone from The Almighty Johnsons and campaigners dressed as bunnies, they will hand over the Be Cruelty-Free petition to Green Party MP Mojo Mathers. (Key was invited to accept the petition but declined.) Activists will be holding satirical placards showing Key as a bunny urging him to ‘Hop to’ a ban on cosmetics animals testing.

SAFE and HSI work in partnership as the New Zealand arm of the global Be Cruelty-Free campaign, the largest campaign in the world to end cosmetics cruelty. The Be Cruelty-Free petition asks the government to ban animal testing for cosmetics as part of the current review of New Zealand's Animal Welfare Act. SAFE and HSI believe that subjecting rabbits, mice and other animals to tests that involve cosmetic chemicals being dripped into their eyes or fed to them in high doses is both unethical and scientifically unreliable.

SAFE campaign manager Mandy Carter says New Zealand must urgently re-evaluate its position on cosmetics animal testing. With bans on this practice in place in Europe, Israel and most recently, India, she believes we are lagging behind the times on this issue.

“Are we less ethical than other parts of the world? It is absolutely clear that people do not want to see animals subjected to cruel and unnecessary tests for the sake of trivial and frivolous means and that this must be enshrined in law.”

There is no legal ban in New Zealand preventing cosmetic companies from testing their cosmetic products or ingredients on animals. As companies are not required to submit information on what tests they conduct, the extent of such testing is hidden from public view. Recently a new “anti-wrinkle” cream that had been developed and tested in New Zealand, including tests on mice and rats, went on the national market.

Across the globe, hundreds of cosmetic companies produce safe, innovative beauty products without animal testing. Instead they demonstrate product safety by combining cutting-edge non-animal testing methods with the use of existing ingredients with long histories of use in cosmetics.

Humane Society International's Be Cruelty-Free campaign director, Troy Seidle, says: “Our Be Cruelty-Free campaign was instrumental in achieving the world’s largest cruelty-free cosmetics zone in Europe, as well as the recent cosmetics animal testing ban in India. New Zealand can be the next country to ‘be cruelty-free’ by closing its borders to animal-tested cosmetics and banning such testing domestically.”

SAFE and HSI are calling for New Zealand to join the EU and Israel in introducing a dual ban ending both cosmetics animal testing and the sale of products newly animal-tested overseas.

Event details
12pm, 25th July, Parliament
A colourful petition handover consisting of satirical cartoons of John Key, activists dressed as bunnies and actor Michelle Langstone.

The term “cruelty-free cosmetics” refers to cosmetics products, formulations and ingredients that have not been tested on animals after a specified date because on that date they were already considered safe to use for cosmetic purposes. This does not mean the ingredients, formulations or products were not tested on animals in the past.

SAFE launched the New Zealand arm of Be Cruelty-Free last year with Humane Society International as part of the largest-ever global campaign to end animal testing for cosmetics – running in countries including the United States, Brazil, Canada, India, Australia, South Korea and Russia. Last month, Be Cruelty-Free was also launched in China, one of few countries to require by law that beauty products be tested on animals.

SAFE is New Zealand’s most proactive animal advocacy organisation with an 80- year history in New Zealand. SAFE works nationally, with 35 centres and offices in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch. SAFE has had a long history of highlighting the cruelty of animal testing and in 2011 launched SAFEShopper, New Zealand’s own guide to cosmetics not tested on animals. On the web at safeshopper.org.nz and safe.org.nz

Humane Society International and its partner organisations constitute one of the world's largest animal protection organisations. For nearly 20 years, HSI has been working for the protection of all animals through the use of science, advocacy, education and hands-on programmes, celebrating animals and confronting cruelty worldwide — on the Web at http://hsi.org/becrueltyfree.

ENDS

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