California has become the first US state to ban the sale of beauty products that have been tested on animals.
California governor Jerry Brown signed the California Cruelty Free Cosmetics Act into law on Friday September 28 – the new law (Senate Bill 1249) will ban the sale of any cosmetic that has been tested on animals, or includes ingredients tested on animals, from January 2020.
Authored by Senator Cathleen Galgiani and co-sponsored by Social Compassion in Legislation and the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, SB 1249 was introduced to the legislature in February.
Since then it has been endorsed by “over 100 cosmetic companies”, attracted the support of “tens of thousands of individuals who wrote letters and made phone calls to legislators” and received extensive social media coverage from celebrities such as Alicia Silverstone, Maggie Q, Harley Quinn Smith, Sia, Emily Deschanel and Alyssa Milano.
Following its unanimous passing (80-0) in the State Assembly, Senator Galgiani said she was proud of California lawmakers for “moving science, industry, and ethics forward”.
“Cruelty-free cosmetics are good for business, safe for humans, and don’t harm animals,” she said.
Judie Mancuso, founder and president of Social Compassion in Legislation, said the passing of the law was a “dream come true.
“I had hoped in my lifetime we would say goodbye to animal-tested products.
“Leading this effort is the biggest accomplishment of my lifetime, and we are so grateful to Governor Brown for signing this lifesaving and landmark bill into law.
“It is a legacy both he and Senator Galgiani can be proud of, and one for the history books as a huge step forward for humanity.”
Cruelty Free International also praised Senator Galgiani for bringing the bill forward and the California legislature for supporting it.
North America campaigns manager Monica Engebretson said that “by ending the sale of animal-tested cosmetics, California has now matched global progress on this issue and become a national leader.”
“Tragically, despite approved non-animal tests, and ingredients that are known to be safe for human use being available, more than half a million animals are still used every year in cruel and unnecessary cosmetics testing worldwide.”
The California Cruelty Free Cosmetics Act will bring the US state in line with over 30 countries and regions including Switzerland, India, Israel, Guatemala and the European Union which have already banned or restricted animal testing on cosmetics.
In 2016, the Australian Government make an election promise to ban animal testing for cosmetic products in Australia – and the sale of cosmetic products and ingredients that have been tested on animals outside of Australia – by July 2017.
The Industrial Chemicals Bill 2017 was introduced to Parliament last June but the Government has deferred the start of the ban until next July to help “regulated entities to adequately prepare for compliance with the new Australian Industrial Chemicals Introduction Scheme (AICIS)”.