EU Ban on Animal Testing

The European Union ban on animal tested products has survived all its opponents and is now going into effect!  This is definitely a wonderful milestone for animals and a great accomplishment for our cruelty free community.  The demands to end animal testing and selective shopping does affect the marketplace.  However, let me be realistic and say this does not mean we can forget about emailing companies and looking for leaping bunny logos. 

• As this is an EU ban, you can only count on this affecting sales in the European Union for the moment.  Hopefully, international companies will stop animal testing in an effort to make only one kind of product that can be sold internationally.  This may not wind up being the case though. 

• Products can be sold in the EU if a company does not test its products or ingredients but sells to a country that tests on its own, such as China.  

• In the flurry of articles on this ban, there have been many articles which include notorious animal rights abusers as suddenly going cruelty free.  I am very wary of this and beg everyone to email these companies to double check before purchasing from them (check out my guide on email companies here).  

• Obviously, those of use looking for vegan products still need to check ingredient lists since this ban only affects animal testing.

Remember: This is a new adventure, and we are all getting acclimated and learning what to look out for.  Below are some links to articles about the EU ban from some fellow cruelty free bloggers and sources that I respect.

Je t'aime [Link]
Logical Harmony [Link]
Leaping Bunny [Link]