Breaking! Procter & Gamble Partners With HSI To End Animal Testing For Cosmetics In All Global Beauty Markets By 2023

Today, Procter & Gamble joins the Humane Society International #BeCrueltyFree Campaign, to ban animal testing for cosmetics in all major global beauty markets by 2023.

“We are pleased to partner with the Humane Society International in the quest to end cosmetic animal testing. I’m proud of the passion and expertise our researchers have contributed already to this goal,” Kathy Fish, Chief Research, Development and Innovation Officer of Procter & Gamble said in a statement. “I know they will continue to be a force for good, providing leadership and advocacy to help achieve our shared vision.”

The company also noted that it has “invested more than $420 million over forty years in developing non-animal testing methods.” 

The #BeCrueltyFree campaign was launched in 2012 with the aim of extending the European Union’s legal precedent – banning cosmetic animal testing and the sale of newly animal tested cosmetics – to countries where this practice is still allowed or even mandated by law.

P&G’s support for #BeCrueltyFree will include joint education and capacity-building programs for non-animal alternatives, continued development of new animal-free approaches to safety assessment, and advocating for the legislative end of cosmetic animal testing in key global beauty markets.

For over two decades, P&G, HSI, HSUS, and the Humane Society Legislative Fund have collaborated on the development and regulatory uptake of animal-free testing methods. The organizations expect that by bringing their complementary strengths together, they will reach the end goal more quickly. A key focus will be gaining acceptance of new methods by regulators and enrolling many companies and governments globally to adopt cruelty-free public policies and practices.

Dr. Harald Schlatter, P&G Corporate Communications and Animal Welfare Advocacy added: “We’ve invested more than $420 million over forty years in developing non-animal testing methods. Our researchers have led or co-designed at least twenty-five cruelty-free methods that have replaced animal testing of cosmetic products. HSI and the HSUS have been powerful partners in advancing these methods globally.“

“Animal testing of cosmetics not only causes unnecessary animal suffering, but it also represents outdated science. For more than 20 years, we have collaborated with Procter & Gamble to advance the development and regulatory acceptance of non-animal testing approaches, but in order to finally move proposed cosmetics animal testing bans into law in the United States, Canada, Brazil, Chile, South Africa and other influential markets, we need the active support of major industry leaders such as P&G.,” stated Troy Seidle, HSI Vice President for Research & Toxicology. “With the power of P&G’s household brands, I’m confident we can achieve a legislative end to cosmetic animal testing globally within five years.”

P&G’s brands include: Always, Bounty, Charmin, Crest, Dawn, Downy, Febreze, Gain, Gillette, Head & Shoulders, Olay, Oral-B, Pampers, Pantene, Tide, Vicks, and more.

Each move to ban animal testing for cosmetics is an important step forward to ending the cruel and unnecessary practice, everywhere!

In 2018, Social Compassion In Legislation and Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine co-sponsored Senate Bill 1249, the California Cruelty-Free Cosmetics Act, with the support of Peace 4 Animals and World Animal News.

The historic legislation signed into law last October will make it unlawful for cosmetic manufacturers to sell any cosmetic in California if the final product or any component of the product was tested on animals after January 1, 2020, with some exceptions for regulatory requirements.