OBF:Animal Testing
Cosmetics testing on animals is particularly controversial. Such tests involve general toxicity, eye and skin irritancy, OBF:phototoxicity (toxicity triggered by OBF:ultraviolet light), and mutagenicity.[1]
Countries where banned
Cosmetics testing is banned in the Netherlands, Belgium, and the UK, and in 2002, after 13 years of discussion, the European Union (EU) agreed to phase in a near-total ban on the sale of animal-tested cosmetics throughout the EU from 2009, and to ban all cosmetics-related animal testing.
Countries resisting testing bans
France, which is home to the world's largest cosmetics company, OBF:L'Oreal, has protested the proposed ban by lodging a case at the OBF:European Court of Justice in OBF:Luxembourg, asking that the ban be quashed.[2] The ban is also opposed by the European Federation for Cosmetics Ingredients, which represents 70 companies in Switzerland, Belgium, France, Germany, and Italy.[2]
References
- ↑ An overview of Animal Testing Issues, Humane Society of the United States. Retrieved February 27, 2008.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Osborn, Andrew & Gentleman, Amelia."Secret French move to block animal-testing ban", The Guardian, August 19, 2003. Retrieved February 27, 2008.