Save Cruelty Free Cosmetics — Commit to a Europe without Animal Testing

Who

Launched in August 2021 byCruelty Free Europe, Eurogroup for Animals, the European Coalition to End Animal Testing (ECEAE) and PETA, ICE has been backed by global beauty and grooming companies : The Body Shop, Dove and Lush and actively promoted by a coalition of associations across Europe.

As a member of the ECEAE, Pro Anima has worked throughout the duration of the initiative to collect signatures, gather the support of public figures, raise awareness on social networks but also by informing the media ?

Hundreds of celebrities have also backed the campaign, including Sir Paul McCartney, Ricky Gervais, Finnish heavy metal band Lordi, Evanna Lynch

In France, the ICE was supported by Raphaël Mezrahi, Monsieur Poulpe, Yoann Latouche, Maëva Galenter, Elsa Esnoult, Jean-Philippe Janssens…

What

It ended animal testing for cosmetic ingredients in 2009 — and finally, in 2013, the EU prohibits the sale of all cosmetics tested on animals.

This historic ban has become the gold standard for regulatory change in countries around the world. But now the ban is under threat.

But less than a decade later, the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) is proposing new animal testing for ingredients that have been used safely by consumers and handled in factories for many years, including including those used only for cosmetics.

The challenge of ICE Save Cruelty Free Cosmetics was to send a clear message to European authorities : ECHA’s requests for new tests break the promise of a Europe without animal testing for cosmetics and go to against the wishes of EU citizens.

Strong objectives are therefore necessary to guarantee more safety and reliability for humans and to put an end to animal suffering in research.

Modern, relevant and reliable alternatives for humans and using no animals exist.

This European Citizens’ Initiative has three clear objectives :

• Protect and Strengthen the Ban on Cosmetic Animal Testing : Initiate legislative change to achieve consumer, worker and environmental protection of all cosmetic ingredients without animal testing at all times.
• Transforming EU chemicals regulations : ensuring human health and the environment are protected through chemicals management without the addition of new animal testing requirements.
• Modernizing science in the EU : committing to a legislative proposal, a roadmap to phase out all animal testing in the EU, before the end of the current legislature

Key dates

• August 31, 2021 : launch of the ICE
• March 15, 2022 : France exceeds the minimum signature threshold required of it, namely 55,695 signatures
• April 21, 2022 : the initiative collected a total of 500,000 signatures
• July 6, 2022 : 700,000 signatures were reached
• July 29, 2022 : France collected 187,297 signatures, i.e. 336% of the requested threshold reached
• August 2, 2022 : the initiative reaches the long-awaited million signatures
• August 31, 2022 : closing of the ICE. 365 days. 27 countries. More than 10 million animals used in laboratories in Europe and more than 1.4 million signatures
• January 2023 : announcement of the official signature count with 1.2 million validated signatures
• May 25, 2023 : Public hearing in the European Parliament during which the organizers of the ECI propose actions for a win-win scenario for science, society and animals by again supporting the transition to non-animal sciences.
• The European Commission’s detailed response is expected by the end of July 2023 as announced by Ms Carmen Laplaza Santos of the Commission’s Health Innovations & Ecosystems unit during the European parliamentary hearing.