Lush is Against Animal Testing

Lush is firmly committed to a policy that not only precludes testing its products and ingredients on animals, or engaging with third-party suppliers to do so on their behalf, but that also prohibits buying any ingredient from any supplier that tests any of its materials on any animals for any purpose. This policy is unique in its field and is pioneering a new way to stop animal tests for cosmetics. Lush runs a Supplier Specific Boycott Policy. There are clear benefits to this policy, which is different and distinct from the Fixed Cut-Off Date policy employed by the Humane Cosmetics Standard.

REACH OUT OR THE BUNNY GETS IT!

For decades, animal testing for cosmetics was a hot playground topic. It was an issue that affected many people, from those who rallied in London to parents who bought cruelty-free products for their family, every youngster who listened to a talk about the cruelty of animal tests and anyone who read the leaflets handed out by the campaigners every Saturday in our local town centres. We all thought it had come to an end when Tony Blair stood up in the House of Commons in 1998 and told us that no more tests would be carried out on animals for cosmetics.

We then got on with our lives, safe in the knowledge that we had done something worthwhile. No more guinea pigs choking to death after being force-fed shampoo and no more rabbits going blind from having mascara dripped into their eyes. Until now.

Against our collective will and the 7th amendment to the Cosmetic Directive that banned animal testing for cosmetics ingredients from 11th March 2009, we have a new piece of super legislation handed down from Brussels, the Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH). The aims of REACH, safe chemicals for all, are laudable; the reality is different. This piece of legislation is so complicated that even industries governed by it don't fully understand it, nor do the .eurocrats. who have to enforce it. Under REACH, many more animal tests will take place as the scientists try to work out which chemicals can harm us. Most of the ingredients used to make cosmetics and toiletries will be used in these tests.

There is still a great deal of uncertainty over how the Cosmetics Directive, which is supposed to ban testing cosmetic ingredients on animals, will hold up under REACH, which requires animal test data for those same ingredients. It seems only a legal challenge will sort out which of these conflicting pieces of legislation will prevail.

At this time, no one in the European Chemicals Agency or the Cosmetic Industry can tell if ingredients tested on animals under REACH will be allowed for use in cosmetics. If they are allowed, then there are no truly cruelty-free cosmetics any more and our rights as conscientious consumers have been trampled on. Or, if these ingredients are not allowed, then most of our cosmetics and toiletries will disappear from our shelves, as the ingredients they are made from will be banned for use.

Animal testing is a Victorian practice and no one benefits from using it. Animal tests don.t give us safe chemicals or safe products, and they certainly don.t do anything for the millions of animals who will be killed.

It will cost companies and governments billions to enact and enforce REACH. If these sums were instead spent on developing safer and more reliable non-animal tests, we could all be more certain about the safety of the products we use.

So come on, let's start making our views known again, discuss the issue with your children, tell your local paper and ask the companies you buy products from about REACH and animal testing.