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TAKE ACTION: Help End Animal Testing for Cosmetics in China

Nathan Herschler, February 22, 2019

You can help end animal testing for cosmetics in China.  China, the world largest market for cosmetics, still requires beauty products to be tested on animals. The good news is that this may change soon: In October 2018, China’s National Institute for Food and Drug Control (NIFDC) publicly stated a strong commitment to changing their regulations requiring animal testing on all imported cosmetics products. NIFDC emphasized that validating non-animal methods is a top priority.

And China has made progress – after working with the NEAVS-supported Institute for In Vitro Sciences (IIVS), the Chinese government accepted a humane alternative to light-exposure experiments on animals.

But we are concerned that an incremental approach to changing these regulations will lead to more confusion for consumers and businesses looking to sell cruelty-free products in China. You can push for strong, clear regulations.

Through its ongoing economic negotiations with China, the United States has the ability to apply pressure on the Chinese government to revise its regulations ending unnecessary requirements for animal testing on imported cosmetics products. The US can also share knowledge and cruelty-free technologies that make animal testing for these cosmetic products unnecessary.

Please send an email to Terry Branstad, the U.S. Ambassador to China, urging him to encourage the NIFDC’s progress in this area and to relay to his Chinese counterparts that American consumers are anxious for this reform to take place in China.