Brazil’s Senate advances ban on use of animals in cosmetics testing

26-Mar-2017 - Last updated on 27-Mar-2017 at 16:15 GMT

This month, new amendments to an existing legislative bill were proposed and approved by the country’s Commission of Science and Technology. For now, however, the law remains unchanged.

Humane Society International, a charity devoted to animal protection, has issued statement of support, thanking Senator Randolfe Rodrigues who introduced the amendments to strengthen the current bill and pledging support to the ongoing efforts that would make the bill into law.

“We thank Senator Rodrigues for proposing these critical amendments to end cosmetic animal cruelty in our country. His amendments will encourage investments in human-relevant non-animal testing methods that are more protective of consumer safety than the obsolete animal tests they replace,” Antoniana Ottoni, HSI legislative officer for research and toxicology, says in the statement.

“We congratulate the members of the Commission of Science and Technology for voting in favor of these changes and we will now work with the members of the Environment Commission to confirm them,” adds Ottoni.

First in the region

If Brazil does pass the pending legislation to ban animal testing of cosmetic ingredients, it will be the first so-called cruelty-free cosmetic market in South America, according to the HSI. Though within that country, the state of Sao Paolo banned animal testing for cosmetics in 2014.

Nearly 40 countries globally have such bans in place, including Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, India, Norway, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, and the United Kingdom.

Complete ban

Animal testing bans vary. Some are absolute and complete. Others call for phasing out testing or prohibit the in-country testing while allowing the import and sale of products developed with animal testing outside of the country.

The HSI, of course, prefers the absolute type, which is why Senator Rodrigues’ amendments got so much attention. “If adopted, the proposed changes would close major loopholes in the 2014 Chamber of Deputies bill 70/2014, building on existing state-level bans in São Paulo, Mato Grosso do Sul, Paraná, Pará and Amazonas,” explains the HSI statement.

The full legislative item from Senator Rodrigues’ office is available here.