The Big Picture

Cosmetics and personal care products companies are committed to eliminating animal testing, while also ensuring the safety of the products consumers trust and rely on every day.

• The beauty industry has long advocated for government recognition and acceptance of alternative testing methods for product safety.
• Working with regulators, scientists and safety experts – and through collaborations with institutional, academic and private sector partnerships – PCPC and our member companies have promoted and used alternative methods for more than 40 years.
• PCPC member companies have not tested their products on animals since the mid-1980s except in very specific cases when required by government regulation.

Why It Matters

While much has been achieved to end the use of animals in assessing the safety of cosmetic products, not all global regulators and authorities accept (or make the broadest use of) the non-animal approaches currently available.

Industry’s Commitment

Our industry remains firmly committed to continuing research and working closely with the global scientific community and other stakeholders until validated non-animal approaches are available to answer all relevant safety questions and meet the needs of government regulators around the world. To date, our industry has invested hundreds of millions of dollars to develop scientifically valid alternatives to animal testing.

• This research began in 1981 with an industry grant to establish the Johns Hopkins Center for Alternatives to Animal Testing (CAAT).

PCPC’s Role

PCPC is working closely with government agencies and organizations to advance policies to help eliminate animal testing for cosmetics.

• The Humane Society Legislative Fund (HSLF), Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) and PCPC worked together to reach a historic agreement on legislative language resulting in the introduction of the Humane Cosmetics Act, which would ensure a uniform standard for animal welfare.
• PCPC and Cruelty Free International (CFI) collaborated on animal testing legislation in several states.
• PCPC works closely with the International Cooperation on Cosmetic Regulation (ICCR) and International Cooperation on Alternative Test Methods (ICATM) to harmonize and encourage global adoption of alternative methods for safety assessments.