This alert is no longer active, but here for reference. Unfortunately, this bill died in committee. Animals still need your help.

Subjecting animals to torturous tests to produce cosmetics is not only cruel, it is unnecessary, outdated, and ineffective. Now, Florida is taking a stand against the production of animal-tested cosmetics. Urge Florida to protect innocent animals from misery by supporting the Cosmetic Animal Testing bill today!

In laboratories, helpless animals including mice, rats, guinea pigs, and rabbits are forced to endure confinement and agonizing tests to produce cosmetics. Terrified rabbits are restrained while chemicals are rubbed onto their skin and into their eyes without painkillers. Mice are force-fed chemicals for prolonged periods and may develop illnesses and cancer. Rats are forced to consume large quantities of a chemical until they die to determine the “lethal dose.” If the animals survive the brutal tests, they are killed through decapitation, suffocation, or neck-breaking. Florida must take the necessary steps to put an end to the suffering of animals for cosmetics.

Two urgently-needed companion bills have been proposed in Florida: the Cosmetic Animal Testing bill, also called the Humane Cosmetics Act (SB1718/HB1279). If enacted, the bills would “prohibit manufacturers from manufacturing, importing for profit, selling, or offering for sale cosmetics developed or manufactured using cosmetic animal testing conducted or contracted by certain persons or from conducting or contracting for cosmetic animal testing, as well as establishing labeling requirements for manufacturers.”

In short, manufacturers could not conduct, or hire others to conduct cosmetic animal testing for their products or ingredients or use ingredients that have been tested on animals by their suppliers. Exceptions apply to the testing of products or ingredients if mandated by federal or state laws or regulations or if no ingredient alternatives exist. Manufacturers would need to adhere to new labeling requirements for cosmetic products that fall under these exceptions to clearly communicate to the consumer that it or its ingredients have been tested on animals.

The Food and Drug Administration does not require testing on animals to prove the safety of cosmetics. Dozens of modern and cost-efficient non-animal tests exist, and thousands of ingredients have already been deemed safe for human use.

Non-animal tests more accurately indicate human response to chemicals. The way a rat or rabbit responds to a chemical does not directly apply to human anatomy due to differences in physiology, therefore producing unreliable results.

This alert is no longer active, but here for reference. Unfortunately, this bill died in committee. Animals still need your help.