Look for the ‘leaping bunny’ logo on your cosmetics, says veteran actress and Trinamool Congress MLA Debasree Roy, urging consumers to make compassionate and ethical choices when buying cosmetics.
“Do not let gentle animals such as rabbits, guinea pigs and mice suffer for the sake of our vanity,” she said, even as she asked the Union Government not to delay ridding India of cosmetics tested on animals.
“Why is the Government of India still lagging in making a decision that is so simple?” she asked. “Animal testing bans across the European Union and Israel prove that cosmetics animal suffering is completely unnecessary. India must embrace the modern non-animal technologies available that offer more reliable test results than researching on rabbits and mice.”
The actress also urged Minister of Health and Family Welfare Ghulam Nabi Azad and the Drug Controller General of India G.N. Singh to introduce a ban on animal testing in cosmetics.
‘Be cruelty-free’
“The Debasree Roy Foundation fully supports the Animal Welfare Board of India and Humane Society International (India) in their efforts to make India the next country in the world to end beauty with cruelty, and I urge our policymakers to work together with our Be Cruelty-Free campaign to put India on the cruelty-free cosmetics map,” she said.
The Humane Society’s (India) “Be Cruelty-Free campaign” is part of the largest-ever global effort to end animal testing for cosmetics. Society’s Alokparna Sengupta points out that there has been a scientific shift from animal testing towards 21{+s}{+t} century non-animal research methods for safety testing of pharmaceuticals and chemicals, including cosmetics.
When influential personalities come forward and show their support, it helps put an end to the thousands of helpless animals suffering unethical and unnecessary cosmetics testing in India’s laboratories, she said. “Producing cruelty-free cosmetics using modern test methods and established ingredients is simple, as demonstrated by global brands such as Lush and The Body Shop,” she added.
The Animal Welfare Board of India is a statutory body constituted under the Prevention of Cruelty to Animal Act, 1960, and it works under the aegis of the Union Environment Ministry.