UK beauty and cosmetics company The Body Shop this week welcomed the news that Europe will finally ban cosmetics animal testing but was disappointed that the EU Conciliation Committee had not resolved the issue of a total ban on the sale of animal-tested cosmetics.
"As the company who led the campaign to end animal testing in the cosmetics industry throughout the 1980s and beyond, we are frustrated that the ban will only affect European cosmetics, " said Steve McIvor, head of values at The Body Shop International. Adding that without a total sales ban, animal testing will simply move outside of Europe.
"Animal testing in the cosmetics industry is an issue we want resolved as soon as possible. We don't want to see it swept under the carpet, " he concluded.
The Body Shop was the first international cosmetics company to be approved under the international Humane Cosmetics Standard. In 1996 The Body Shop delivered the largest ever petition - over four million people - against animal testing to the European Union.