Donate Menu
Animals are not oursto experiment on, eat, wear, use for entertainment or abuse in any other way.
 

Help Save the EU’s Cosmetics Animal Testing Ban!

The European Union once banned animal testing in cosmetics, offering hope to animals in laboratories everywhere. But that ban has been rendered obsolete, and animals are being tormented and killed in laboratories. Please sign PETA’s petition urging EU officials to act now.

Read Less -

Animals Are Force-Fed Chemicals and Killed

Tests may involve forcing tens of thousands of rats, rabbits, or fish to ingest shampoo or sun cream ingredients for months. In some cases, experimenters force-feed pregnant animals these chemicals and then kill and dissect the animals and their unborn offspring. In other tests, experimenters allow the offspring to be born, only for them to experience the same miserable fate as their mothers.

The Collapse of the EU Animal Testing Ban

Legal challenges, like the Symrise case, and ongoing testing demands have revealed glaring loopholes in EU regulations, allowing animal testing for cosmetics ingredients. Under the guise of the Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH) regulation, thousands of rats, rabbits, and fish may be forced to ingest or inhale cosmetic ingredients. This betrayal undermines the EU’s cruelty-free legacy and erodes public trust.

Despite overwhelming public support for cruelty-free products and an end to animal suffering, the European Commission has ignored the demands of 1.2 million citizens in the EU who called for an unequivocal end to cosmetics animal testing.  

Help Stop Cruel Cosmetics Testing

The European Commission is evaluating the Cosmetics Regulation and proposing updates to the REACH regulation. We must make our voices heard and tell the Commission to restore its cruelty-free commitment and build a compassionate future that protects animals, humans, and the environment. 

No animal should suffer and be killed for the sake of lipstick or sunscreen. The European Commission must cancel its policy allowing cosmetics ingredients to be tested on animals and let companies demonstrate safety using non-animal methods.

Why This Matters

The choices made now will determine whether the EU remains a global leader in compassion and innovation or whether the cruelty-free market in the EU is destroyed.

Ethical brands have thrived on public demand for compassionate, animal-test-free products for years. However, regulatory demands for ingredient suppliers to test their substances under REACH have left the industry in a regulatory paradox. Companies committed to ethical practices must compromise their principles or risk non-compliance with EU law.

Given the troubling and changing regulatory requirements for cosmetics and personal care ingredients in the EU, PETA US’s Beauty Without Bunnies programme is undergoing a comprehensive review. In the future, only those companies that sell their products in the US, Canada, India, and Germany will be listed in the database. PETA US suspends consideration of applications from companies that sell their products in all other countries from the Beauty Without Bunnies programme until the REACH cosmetics loophole is closed.

Sign the Petition

Help keep cruelty out of cosmetics. Demand that the European Commission prevent animal suffering and protect the future of cruelty-free cosmetics.

View Full Text +

Subject: Protect and Strengthen the Cosmetics Animal Testing Ban

UN MIS Petition Description Text - *Important Note* You must UNLINK this shared library component before making page-specific customizations.

Ursula von der Leyen
President, European Commission

Dear President of the European Commission,

The European Union's ban on animal testing for cosmetics was a landmark achievement, reflecting its commitment to compassion and innovation. However, loopholes in EU regulations – exemplified by the recent Symrise court case – permit animal testing for cosmetics ingredients under the Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals regulation, undermining the core principles of the ban.

This betrayal of the EU’s cruelty-free legacy disregards scientific advancements and the will of over 1.2 million EU citizens who signed the European Citizens’ Initiative: Save Cruelty-Free Cosmetics – Commit to a Europe Without Animal Testing, demanding an end to cosmetics animal testing.

We urge you to act decisively to protect the future of cruelty-free cosmetics in the EU by using the REACH revision and cosmetics refit evaluation to take the following actions:

  • Close the Loopholes: Eliminate provisions that permit animal testing for cosmetics ingredients under the guise of worker safety.

  • Strengthen the Ban: Invest in cutting-edge non-animal testing methods to build a future free of animal suffering for environmental risk assessment.

The choices now will define whether the EU remains a global leader in humane science and innovation, or this cruelty-free promise is lost.

Please respect the will of EU citizens, restore the integrity of the cosmetics testing ban, and ensure that no more animals suffer for beauty.

Sincerely,

Speak Out Now

Fields with an asterisk(*) are required.​

Sign up for e-mails from PETA including:

Support our work to save animals. Select YES to receive e-mails, including about other ways to help animals, such as by signing petitions and funding PETA's lifesaving work.

You can read our full privacy policy here. You can change the way we communicate with you at any time you wish, including to reduce the number of letters we send you or to opt out of all our communications. To do so please, contact us here. Current subscribers: You will continue to receive e-mails unless you select NO or explicitly opt out here.