New Bill Aims to End Animal-Tested Cosmetics in Australia

Following popular demand, Australia may soon join India, Israel, and the European Union in banning animal-tested cosmetics.

A June 2013 survey by Humane Research Australia showed that 81 percent of citizens Support a ban on animal testing in their country. Last Monday, Senator Lee Rhiannon of the Australian Greens party announced her plans to introduce a Private Senator’s Bill to Parliament that would ban all animal-tested cosmetics in the country, including imported cosmetics tested on animals.

Senator Rhiannon will introduce the bluntly-titled End Cruel Cosmetics Bill this week, following on the heels of a similar U.S. bill proposed earlier this month by Senator Jim Moran.

The Greens announced the bill alongside Be Cruelty-Free Australia, the country’s chapter of a global campaign to end cosmetics animal testing worldwide.

The campaign spokeswoman, Hanna Stuart, stated, “Cosmetics companies that don’t test on animals use safe, innovative products by using modern test methods where available. There’s also 5,000 ingredients that are already well established to be safe, so they can use those as well.”

As part of the worldwide effort to end cruel cosmetics tests, the new bill aims to affect imports from China, and encourage the country to move forward with modern test methods. Animal cosmetic tests are still mandatory in China, though last year they declared plans to phase out that policy.

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