Will Canada’s long-awaited ban on animal testing for cosmetics be finalized this year?

24 Feb 2023 --- The industry is witnessing the phasing out of animal testing for cosmetics worldwide. Europe has banned the practice and is attempting to close regulatory loopholes, while certain states in the US are banning the sale of such cosmetics. PersonalCareInsights speaks to Health Canada, the governmental department that regulates cosmetics under the Food and Drugs Act to share its status on animal testing.

Maryse Durette, senior media relations advisor, communication and public affairs branch at Health Canada and the Public Health Agency of Canada shares that the Food and Drugs Act does “not require” animal testing to demonstrate the safety of cosmetics. However, based on this, it does not necessarily mean that companies are not allowed to use animal testing to demonstrate their cosmetics’ safety status.

“The department is developing a proposal to ban cosmetic testing on animals and continues to support the development and use of alternative methods to animal testing for other products or uses, while ensuring that non-animal testing approaches provide equivalent, or better, protection to ensure the health and safety of Canadians,” they assure.

Health Canada shares that the Food and Drugs Act does “not require” animal testing to demonstrate the safety of cosmetics.“Proposed regulatory measures will be subject to broad and public consultation following the established departmental processes; therefore, no changes are expected to be finalized before August 2023.”

On the global market side, cruelty-free personal care product launches had more than 31% average annual growth between 2017 to 2021, according to data from Innova Market Insights. Europe had the most cruelty-free launches at 44% and North America at 27%. Meanwhile, the use of vegan claims in personal care launches had 36% year-over-year growth between 2021 to 2020.

Also, The Vegan Society report revealed 90% of consumers support vegan-verified cosmetics. However, as animal-free safety testing for cosmetics is largely hindered by inconsistencies across global regulatory policies, more than 35 cosmetics manufacturers, industry associations and animal protection organizations linked up to launch the International Collaboration on Cosmetics Safety. 

How has Canada responded so far?
Durette at Health Canada shares that the government of Canada is promoting alternative methods to animal testing with the introduction of Bill S-5, Strengthening Environmental Protection for a Healthier Canada Act in the Senate on February 9, 2022.

“Bill S-5 would amend the preamble of the Canadian Environmental Protection Act, 1999 to recognize the need to reduce reliance on animal testing when assessing the risks that chemical substances may pose to human health and other species,” continues Durette.

Furthermore, on January 14 this year, the government published a Notice of Intent on promoting reduced reliance on animal testing in the New Substances Notification Regulations (Chemicals and Polymers) in the Canada Gazette, Part I for a 75-day comment period.

“Currently, under these regulations, those intending to import or manufacture a new substance in Canada must provide data to allow the government to assess the substance in order to ensure the safety of Canadians and the environment – this data may be derived from animal testing.

“The notice outlines the government’s intent to consider amendments in the regulations to promote the acceptance of alternative data when scientifically justified without compromising health and environmental safety,” explains Durette.Health Canada is developing a proposal to ban cosmetic testing on animals and supports the development and use of alternative methods to animal testing.

“To accelerate the development and validation of non-animal test methods, Health Canada is working with the Canadian Centre for Alternatives to Animal Methods at the University of Windsor in the organization of the 12th World Congress on Alternatives and Animal Use in the Life Sciences.”

Canada has been aiming to prohibit animal testing in cosmetics from 2015 with the S-214 Act to amend the Food and Drugs Act. However, it has only reached the “first reading” stage under the House of Commons in 2019, leaving the second and third readings incomplete. 

Tracking global nations
Animal testing for cosmetics has been banned in India, Israel, Norway, Iceland, Switzerland and Mexico, according to The Humane Society. “Cosmetic companies in the US and abroad that conduct animal tests are not able to sell their products in these countries unless they change their practices.” 

Moreover, the US states of California, Hawaii, Illinois, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Nevada, New Jersey and Virginia have passed laws to end the sale of animal-tested cosmetics. New York joined the list as the tenth state in January this year.

Proposed regulatory measures will be subject to broad and public consultation, no changes are expected to be finalized before August 2023, says Durette.The US Senate also passed a five-year legislation that reauthorized the Food and Drug Administration to federally-enforce animal testing alternatives, while the Senate dropped a “dangerous” provision that would have hindered state laws from banning animal-tested cosmetics.

“Australia, Colombia, Ecuador, Guatemala, New Zealand, South Korea, Taiwan, Turkey and several states in Brazil have also passed laws to ban or limit cosmetic animal testing,” adds The Humane Society.

In September, South Korea’s Ministry of Food and Drug Safety introduced an amendment to its biological standard and test method guidelines – to remove the requirement for abnormal toxicity tests. Although South Korea banned animal testing for cosmetics in 2018, the abnormal toxicity test left loopholes open.

On the other hand, Cruelty Free International went head-to-head with the UK Home Office over animal testing in cosmetics at the Royal Courts of Justice in London. The two-day review challenged the Home Office’s decision to abandon the policy ban on testing cosmetics on animals after it revealed that it still allows animal testing for cosmetics in the UK.

In the EU, animal testing has been banned since 2013 while it still faces some loopholes. PersonalCareInsights was present at the recent European Partnership for Alternative Approaches to Animal Testing conference where academics and European Commission regulatory members discussed the achievements and challenges in transitioning toward an animal-testing-free future.

However, we investigated the risk of consumers unknowingly purchasing products that have been tested on animals as some brands continue selling on international markets that still require animal testing on cosmetics, notably China.

By Venya Patel