Australia to Ban Cosmetic Animal Testing

In news that is sure to warm the hearts of animal lovers everywhere (including us at Beauty Over 40), the Australian Senate passed a bill on February 14 2019, to ban all cosmetic testing on animals in Australia. The Industrial Chemical Charges Bill 2017 was brought into the House of Representatives in June 2017 and agreed upon in October, however it has taken until now for the bill to be passed. Australia will no longer accept animal testing results as proof of a product’s efficiency or safety, effectively making animal testing redundant, so cosmetic brands will now be required to prove safety through other methods of testing. This news means Australia has now joined the European Union and the UK in effectively banning cosmetic animal testing.

The Body Shop, pioneers in the campaign against animal testing, are thrilled with this news. “Today we are celebrating a major win in the fight to end animal testing. The Body Shop has been on a mission to end cosmetic animal testing globally for over 30 years, so to have this bill passed in Australia is fantastic progress. Hopefully, we will see more governments around the world follow suit,” says Shannon Chrisp, Marketing and Corporate Responsibility Director for The Body Shop Australia.

Of course ahead of this ban coming into effect, we already have many (many) cruelty-free brands available in Australia (including The Body Shop), so if you like your beauty cruelty-free, click here to read all about them.