Here’s something to warm your heart if you’re an animal lover, or even if you just happen to support the use of modern science to ensure safer products!
What are the changes?
What are the changes?It’s so encouraging to know that on 1st January, cruelty-free cosmetics laws came into force in Virginia, Maryland and Hawaii, meaning that newly animal tested cosmetics can no longer be sold in those states. This brings the total number of US states with a ban in place to 7 (the others are California, Nevada, Illinois and Maine), with two more expected to follow in 2022 (New Jersey and New York). Since this growing list includes many of the most highly populated areas of the US, bans on animal testing for cosmetics now cover the states of residence of a significant proportion of the US population.
All this exciting progress paves the way for a snowball effect over the next few years, and as more and more states follow, the path to a Federal ban becomes much easier to achieve. On that note, the Humane Cosmetics Act was reintroduced in December 2021 in both the Senate and the House of Representatives, paving the way for such a momentous change. If you live in the US, you can show your support by completing a simple form on Cruelty Free International’s website, asking your US Representative to support the Act.
Better Science? Yes please!
Many US cosmetics companies already adopt cruelty free approaches to testing their products and ingredients. Motivating factors include companies’ own ethical stance and policies, a desire to adopt more human relevant science to ensure product safety, response to growing demand from consumers, and the need for compliance on a global level (for example, if they want to sell in Europe or other regions and countries with bans in place).
It always feels surprising that the laws have been so slow to change in the US, when our friends and colleagues in the scientific community there have led the way in the advancement of so many non-animal scientific approaches.
It’s therefore extremely satisfying to see the legal framework now following modern science, and kudos to all those who have helped to make this possible through many years of hard work to develop in vitro and computer modelling techniques with far greater relevance to humans than the outdated animal tests.
How can we help?
How can we help?This ever-increasing shift towards cruelty-free testing means that it is more important than ever to maximise human safety without making compromises on animal welfare – that’s where we can help! At XCellR8, we’ve invested years of research into developing adaptations of existing safety tests, where all animal components have been eliminated. In their place, we use human-derived serum and antibodies from approved sources as well as chemically defined products. This approach facilitates both the human relevance and reproducibility of the test results. Why not contact us? Start your animal-product-free journey today!
Here’s to continued scientific and legislative progress in 2022 and beyond!
