Cosmetics Labeling Bill Must Include Animal Testing Reform
Thursday, July 29, 2010

Contact your U.S. Representative and ask him/her to support this bill

A bill to improve the way cosmetics manufactures test and label their products as safe for humans includes a provision that promotes the use of non-animal alternatives for safety testing.

The Safe Cosmetics Act of 2010, H.R. 5786, recently introduced by Representative Jan Schakowsky, would require cosmetics manufacturers to provide detailed labeling on their products and to provide evidence to the federal government that the ingredients used to manufacture the cosmetics are safe for humans.

This bill would also allow the federal government to issue a mandatory recall of any cosmetic that is found to be unsafe instead of leaving it to the discretion of the manufacturer.

One section of this bill, Section 622, is of special interest as it addresses the issue of animal testing on cosmetics. According to this section, the Secretary of Health and Human Services shall require, where practicable:

• Alternative testing methods that do not use an animal to test the chemical substance;
• Information that is equivalent or superior in scientific quality to animal testing data; and
• Use fewer animals than conventional animal-based tests when non-animal tests are impractical.

The Secretary shall also encourage:

• Estimations of toxicological properties of a chemical through the use of testing information based on other structurally similar chemicals;
• The formation of an industry consortia to conduct testing to avoid duplication of tests; and
• Funding for research and validation of alternative test methods.

While NAVS would like to see a bill that requires manufacturers to do all of the measures above, this is an important step in reducing and hopefully eliminating the use of animals for testing in the future.

Please contact your U.S. Representative and ask him/her to support this bill, including Section 622 to require that non-animal alternative be used for testing chemicals.