Europe has gone into reverse gear on banning animal testing for cosmetics, according to Unilever.
The British multinational said that despite the European Parliament’s leadership on this issue, separate regulations for cosmetics and chemicals in Europe are contradicting each other.
While the EU Cosmetics Regulation forbids animal testing, the EU regulation which governs chemicals, known as REACH (Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals), still requires animal testing under many circumstances.
“This means there is a mismatch between the two regulations and so, while animal testing for cosmetics is banned in the EU, animal testing continues to take place under REACH,” said Unilever.
“Unfortunately, progress is now not just stalling, it’s also starting to take a backwards slide. The European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) is calling for new animal tests for ingredients with a long history of safe use, even for those solely used in cosmetics,” it added.
“This move is now destroying the EU’s 2013 ban on animal testing for cosmetics.”
Unilever wants to close the gap between the EU Cosmetics Regulation and REACH by creating a “future-fit regulatory framework that embraces the benefits of modern, highly innovative, non-animal safety science”.
“Until policymakers accept the leading-edge application of new approach methodologies (tests that don’t use animals), we’ll continue to advocate strongly for the regulatory changes needed to uphold the EU’s legal requirement that non-animal approaches are used if available,” it said.
