Major win: Canada just banned cosmetics animal testing and trade [View all]

[Judi Lynn]

By Kitty Block and Sara Amundson
June 23, 2023

In a massive step forward, Canada has just passed a ban on cosmetics animal testing and the sale of beauty products that rely on new animal test data to substantiate their safety, becoming the second North American country to do so; Mexico passed such a ban in 2021.

Our Humane Society International/Canada office has campaigned tirelessly for more than a decade to put an end to such tests with the tremendous support of our Research and Toxicology team. Our campaigning was bolstered by Animal Alliance of Canada and Lush Cosmetics, more recently leading a broader coalition of industry and nongovernmental organization partners to relegate these practices to the history books. We are thrilled that the Canadian government has heeded our call and banned this cruel and obsolete practice once and for all. The ban comes in the form of measures to amend Canada’s Food and Drug Act, contained in the 2023 federal budget bill. The amendment also bans false and misleading labeling pertaining to the testing of cosmetics on animals. 

Paired with the Canadian government’s recent passage of historic measures to phase out all chemical toxicity testing on animals, this week’s victory positions Canada as a leader in advancing progressive, compassionate science. Moreover, in prohibiting cosmetics animal testing and trade, Canada now joins the European Union, United Kingdom, India, South Korea, Taiwan, New Zealand, Australia, Brazil and a total of 43 other countries that have already enacted similar bans or restrictions.

Humane Society International has spearheaded these and other legislative victories, giving the global cosmetics industry a cruelty-free makeover. The combined pressure of an ever-growing number of bans on the sale of newly animal-tested cosmetics has even been felt in China, which recently took steps to waive its longstanding animal testing requirements for imported regular cosmetics.

More:
https://blog.humanesociety.org/2023/06/major-win-canada-just-banned-cosmetics-animal-testing-and-trade.html