India bans import of cosmetics tested on animals

timesofindia.indiatimes.com...

NEW DELHI: Nearly five months after banning cosmetic animal testing within the country, India has now also imposed a ban on importing such products that test on animals and thus become the first country in south Asia to do so.

The government on Monday notified a rule to this effect, prohibiting "import of cosmetics tested on animals" from November 13.

This amended Drugs and Cosmetics Rules, imposing dual ban (test and import), has now put India in the league of European Union and Israel that had imposed such ban long ago.

It gave 30 days for this notification to be effective, allowing the enforcement authorities to strictly go for the import ban from November 13.

The HSI India has been following up the issue with successive governments for long. It had in June presented a petition of more than 70,000 signatures, supporting an import ban, to the new Union health minister Harsh Vardhan and apprised him of the cruel practice of testing for cosmetics on animals.

Noting contributions of Union minister Maneka Sanjay Gandhi and senior BJP leaders LK Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi in getting the dual test and import ban, the HSI India said, "India's dual test and import ban mirrors that of the European Union and is the latest victory in a string of achievements for the 'Be Cruelty Free' campaign globally".

Many countries including Australia, Brazil, New Zealand, Taiwan and the United States have already introduced bills proposing national cosmetic animal test bans.

The HSI said, "Efforts by 'Be Cruelty Free' China also resulted in China removing mandatory animal testing for many domestically-produced cosmetics".

Great move by the govt. of these countries, The horrors helpless animals go through just so that we can have some lipstick, shampoo or eyeliner is unspeakable. I am glad India is the first in South Asia to do so.Next should be to ban any thing which has animal products in it .

a reply to: maddy21

But Canada continues to export asbestos to their largest customer, India.

a reply to: maddy21

Wonderful news! I wish it could all be so. I wrote to ask if my contact lense care products were tested on animals they wrote back to tell me no, not the ones in use but anything new they want to put on the market they are required to test on animals first.

now anyone who has taken the time to look carefully at what is done will know in most cases it is totally ridiculous. They will blind thousands of animals by doing the same test over and over again, the whole process is without any sense at all. The tests will make little sense, a product meant of skin will be "injected" in the animal or put in the eyes and such.

It is estimated that more than 115 million animals worldwide are used in laboratory experiments every year. But because only a small proportion of countries collect and publish data concerning animal use for testing and research, the precise number is unknown. For example, in the United States, up to 90 percent of the animals used in laboratories (purpose-bred rats, mice and birds, fish, amphibians, reptiles and invertebrates) are excluded from the official statistics, meaning that figures published by the U.S. Department of Agriculture are no doubt a substantial underestimate.

Within the European Union, more than 12 million animals are used each year, with France, Germany and the United Kingdom being the top three animal using countries. British statistics reflect the use of more than 3 million animals each year, but this number does not include animals bred for research but killed as “surplus” without being used for specific experimental procedures.

www.hsi.org...