By ANEEKA SIMONIS
COSMETIC testing on animals in Australia will be banned and the importation and sale of beauty products trialled on animals overseas will also be outlawed under a policy with tripartisan support.
But the ban will not preclude the sale of existing cosmetic items known to test on animals from brands such as Revlon, Maybelline and MAC.
It will instead ban the sale of cosmetics featuring new ingredients tested on animals offshore, including reformulations of existing beauty product items, make-up, toothpaste, haircare and skincare products.
Assistant Minister for Health Ken Wyatt described the policy as a “breakthrough” for animal welfare policy, bringing the country into line with the European Union which has already imposed the ban.
He made the election announcement, which shadows similar policy commitments by the ALP and The Greens, at a rabbit refuge in Cockatoo with Liberal Member for La Trobe, Jason Wood.
Mr Wood said it was about time Australia banned the practice, but said similar bans would not be extended to outlaw animal testing in pharmaceutical trials.
“Testing the ingredients of cosmetics on living creatures is a completely unnecessary cruelty and it’s time Australia joined a growing number of communities by banning it,” he said while holding a bunny at The Bluey and Alice Bunny Refuge in Cockatoo.
Be Cruelty Free Campaign Officer Hannah Stuart said about 500,000 animals were subject to cosmetic trials globally each year.
Animals such as rabbits, guinea pigs and mice will have chemicals forcibly dripped into their eyes, syringed into their stomachs, mouths or rubbed onto their skin.
“It is simply unacceptable. We do not accept that a rabbit should have to die for a new lipstick,” she said at the Cockatoo announcement.
“There is a growing global trend towards eliminating the sale of newly animal tested beauty products and their ingredients, and today’s announcement will put Australia on the map as the next country to say no to cosmetics cruelty.”
It is understood no cosmetic manufacturers test on animals in Australia.
However, there is currently no legislation to prevent it from happening.
Currently, there are more than 20,000 chemical ingredients available to producers of cosmetics products safe for human use.
Alternatives to animal testing include in vitro tests using human tissue cultures and skin reconstructions.
Some 81 per cent of Australians oppose cosmetic testing on animals.
Under a Liberal Government, the ban will come into effect on 1 July 2017.
If Labor is elected, the policy would come into effect at a later date.
