ISPCA asks people to sign petition urging European Commission to uphold animal testing ban

The ISPCA is asking people to sign a petition urging the European Commission to uphold and strengthen an EU ban on animal testing. 

The call comes following a 2020 decision by the European Chemicals Agency's (ECHA) Board of Appeal requiring a German firm to conduct animal testing on some cosmetic ingredients - namely homosalate and 2-ethylhexyl salicylate - to ensure safety. 

The move is prompting animal lovers and activists to fear a return to the past. 

Currently, EU-wide legislation enacted in 2013 bans cosmetic product testing on animals, with one exception. 

The EU's flagship chemicals regulator REACH requires chemical companies to use animal testing for the safety certification of certain cosmetic ingredients if no other option is available. 

The petition is demanding legislative change to achieve protection for all cosmetic ingredients without testing on animals "for any purpose at any time", as well as a commitment to creating a roadmap to phase out all animal testing in the EU before the current legislative term ends. 

In a statement, the ISPCA said, "Across Europe, millions of animals are used in education and science each year in experiments that frequently inflict suffering, which can be severe, but seldom deliver on their main promise, which is better health for humans. They include mice, fish, rats, guinea pigs, rabbits, cats, dogs, and monkeys. We need your help to end this suffering – for the animals and for better medicine, better product safety, and better environmental protection. 

"We want to see humane, human-relevant, animal-free science properly funded and fully utilised." 

The petition has amassed 350,000 signatures out of a goal of one million, and is being supported by animal rights groups as well as cosmetics industry giants. 

To be successful, a European citizens' initiative such as the petition has to reach one million signatures of support as well as minimum thresholds in at least 7 countries. 

Thresholds have currently been met in four countries; Czechia, Finland, Slovakia and the Netherlands. 

A threshold of just 32% has been reached in Ireland so far.