Hawaii proposes to ban cosmetic products tested on animals

Senators in the US state of Hawaii have introduced two new bills aimed to help cease animal testing.

The Hawaii Cruelty-Free Cosmetics Act will ban the sale of cosmetic products or product components that use animal testing as part of their development or manufacturing processes.

Backed by Cruelty Free International (CFI), the legislation also applies to ingredients that are often used in cosmetics. If passed, the bill will come into effect on 1 January 2020.

The second proposed bill requires manufacturers and laboratories in Hawaii to only use scientifically approved, non-animal testing methods for cosmetics and household products.

According to the bills, animal testing involves internal or external application or exposure of any cosmetic product to the skin, eyes or other body part of a live, non-human vertebrate to evaluate a product’s efficacy.

CFI North America campaign manager Monica Engebretson said:  “In the past 30 years, there have been great strides in the development and use of modern non-animal testing approaches that are often faster and better at predicting human response than the animal tests they replace.

“Moreover, the public overwhelmingly strongly supports alternatives to animal testing and countries around are increasingly prohibiting the sale cosmetics that have been tested on animals.”

More than 30 countries including the EU, Norway, Israel, India and US states California, New York and New Jersey currently prohibit the sale of animal-tested cosmetics.