Effective on November 2015, cosmetic products tested on animals will not be allowed to be imported in India. According to the Ministry of Health’s Drugs and Cosmetics (Fifth Amendment) Rules, 2014, which was recently published in the Gazette of India, “No cosmetic that has been tested on animals after the commencement of the Drugs and Cosmetics (Fifth Amendment) Rules, 2014 shall be imported into the country.”
Photo credit: Jpoonnolly / en.wikipedia
Earlier this year, the testing of cosmetics on animals was banned in India following efforts by PETA India and other animal rights NGOs.
India thus becomes the first country in Asia to officially ban both the testing of cosmetics on animals and the import of animal tested cosmetics. In practice, countries, such as China, that require cosmetics to be tested on animals will no longer be able to export their products to India. With this decision, India joins the 28 European Union member states and Israel, which have already banned the sale and marketing of animal-tested cosmetics.
"This ruling now gives an upper hand to businesses that use superior, human-relevant, non-animal testing methods", says PETA India Science Policy Adviser Dr Chaitanya Koduri. "We applaud the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare for looking out for animals’ interests and for championing modern science."
