THE WHAT? The Save Cruelty Fee Cosmetics – Commit to a Europe Without Animal Testing European Citizens’ Initiative has garnered some 1.2 million expressions of support from EU citizens, comfortably over the 1 million required.

THE DETAILS As a result, the European Commission must meet with campaigners to address citizens’ concerns.

“European citizens have been asking for cruelty-free cosmetics for a long time. This European citizens’ initiative is another reminder to the Commission that EU citizens will not stand by while loopholes in legislation are not closed to end all animal tests on cosmetics,” says Niels Fuglsang, Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats.

THE WHY? While the European Union has had a ban on animal testing for cosmetics in place for decades, the ECI is calling for more robust implementation, as well as a full transition to cruelty free testing methods for chemical safety tests. Sirpa Pietikäinen, MEP, European People’s Party, explains, “With the threat that the chemicals strategy poses to animals in laboratories, this ECI could not be timelier. From today, no additional animal tests should be requested to fill information gaps about chemicals. We need to move to safer and more humane safety assessments of chemicals.”