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Sir Paul McCartney is calling for an end to the “unimaginable pain and suffering” of animal testing for cosmetics. The former Beatle is backing the Humane Society of the United States and Humane Society International’s “Be Cruelty-Free” campaign, the largest-ever global effort to dissuade cosmetics and personal-product manufacturers from testing their products and ingredients on animals such as rabbits, guinea pigs, and mice.
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Although animal testing for cosmetics such as lipstick, hairspray, and moisturizer is banned across the European Union, it’s still permitted in most countries around the world, including the United States and Canada. In fact, in regions such as China and parts of South America, such tests are required by law, a fact that has led companies like Avon, Mary Kay, and Esteé Lauder to quietly turn their backs on 20 years of “no animal testing” policies.
McCartney wants to see a world where “no animal has to suffer and die” for the sake of cosmetics.
McCartney wants to see a world where “no animal has to suffer and die” for the sake of cosmetics.
Animals-rights groups insist, however, that cosmetics can be produced sans cruelty by using the thousands of ingredients for which safety data already exists, along with advanced non-animal testing methods such as three-dimensional human skin and advanced computer models.
McCartney wants to see a world where “no animal has to suffer and die” for the sake of cosmetics. “The ugly truth about testing beauty products on animals is that it causes them unimaginable pain and suffering,” he says in a statement. “If every cosmetic tested on rabbits or mice had a photo on the packaging showing these animals with weeping swollen eyes and inflamed skin, I believe everyone would leave cruelty on the shelf and go for the cruelty-free option instead.”