EDM 1215 'Household Products'
In 1997 the Government decided to stop granting
licences for cosmetics tests on animals, because the suffering
caused was "not justified"[1] given
the trivial nature of the products tested. There is, however, no
such prohibition for household products such as washing-up liquid
or disinfectant, yet the arguments are very similar.
EDM 1215 calls upon the Government to extend its existing policy
ban on cosmetics testing using animals to also include household
products [2].
It is still perfectly legal for UK companies to test such products
on animals in the UK. It is very hard to argue that developing
another variety of washing up liquid or floor cleaner justifies
causing pain and suffering to sentient animals.
Since the cosmetics testing ban, according to Home Office figures
7,184 animals have been used in 7,325 procedures to test household
products . The Home Office's Annual Statistics of Procedures on
Living Animals for 2006 [3] recorded
for the first time that the number of toxicological procedures
listed as being for "substances
for use in the household" was - for the first time - zero.
This figure seems encouraging but must be treated with extreme
caution as it relies upon those doing the testing to categorise
their tests for household products and their ingredients.
Many Parliamentary Questions have been answered in the last five
years [4] during
which the Government has failed to take the opportunity to commit
itself to a ban on household product and ingredient testing. This
is unacceptable: it is clear that a line must be drawn in the sand
which commits the Government to ending animal tests for household
products, as a matter of policy.
EDM 1215 has been tabled by David Drew MP. It reads:
"That this House notes the Government's
1997 policy prohibition on the use of animals to test the safety
of cosmetic products and their ingredients, which was said to
have been introduced on the basis that the suffering caused was
not justified given the nature of the product; notes with regret
that the Government has not implemented a similar prohibition
on the use of animals to test household products, such as washing-up
liquid or floor cleaners, and their ingredients; supports the
campaign of the British Union for the Abolition of Vivisection
to end the suffering of animals in tests for household products
and their ingredients; and calls on the Government to implement
a policy prohibition on issuing licences to test household products
and their ingredients on animals as a matter of urgency."
Click here to lobby your MP on EDM
1215 now!
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