It’s official! New York has become the tenth U.S. state to ban the cruel testing of cosmetics on animals by passing a manufacturing and sales ban throughout the state on cosmetics tested on animals and In Defense of Animals supporters helped to make this victory a reality! 

The New York Cruelty-Free Cosmetics Act (S4839/A5653), which was sponsored by Sen. Alessandra Biaggi and Assemblymember Linda Rosenthal, was signed into law by Gov. Kathy Hochul. This law prohibits the manufacture and sale of cosmetics that have been tested on animals. Manufacturers will instead have to use alternatives that don’t involve animals and stores will have to stock only cosmetics that aren’t tested on animals. The motion received almost unanimous bipartisan support and the law took effect on January 1, 2023. Sen. Biaggi said, “Protecting the safety of humans by testing cosmetics is extremely important, but does not mean that animals must serve at their expense for our well-being. Animals serve as a means for unconditional love and support, and should never have to face abuse or unsafe conditions.”

Animals who are used in cosmetics testing, such as rabbits, mice, guinea pigs, and rats, experience significant trauma by having chemicals rubbed into their skin and administered into their eyes, along with being forced to ingest large amounts of chemicals to ascertain the lethal dose.

Testing cosmetics on animals is not only horrific for animals, but it’s unnecessary, ineffective, and outdated. Research methods have evolved and companies have already created products with safe ingredients via modern testing methods that have replaced animal-derived tests. Also, other animals often do not respond to chemicals the same way that we humans do, and results can differ greatly, even between similar species, such as rats and mice. Hundreds of companies have pledged not to test on animals and have already proven that there's no longer any acceptable reason to torture animals for human vanity as if there ever was one to begin with!

We applaud Gov. Hochul and the state of New York for making the ethical and progressive decision to ban cosmetics animal testing, and thank our New York supporters for taking action on our regional alert, which generated nearly 2,000 signatures.

New York now joins California, Hawaii, Maryland, New Jersey, Maine, Louisiana, Illinois, Nevada, and Virginia, which have enacted similar bans. 

We look forward to other states making the compassionate choice to end the extremely cruel practice of testing on animals for cosmetics and will continue working toward seeing the Humane Cosmetics Act passed, which would ban animal testing for cosmetics nationwide. 

Want to make a difference? Pledge to only buy cosmetics and household products that aren’t tested on animals, learn more about what we do to help and donate to support our work.