Your signature can help end animal cruelty in the world forever.
The Body Shop, a 100% vegetarian global beauty brand, and Cruelty Free International, a worldwide organization that aims to end the use of animals in experiments, recently launched their “Fight Against Animal Testing” campaign.
The drive aims to gather 8 million signatures through the Forever Against Animal Testing petition (foreveragainstanimaltesting.
Doly Cruz, The Body Shop Philippines’ Commitment and Brand Communications Supervisor said in a media event held at SM Megamall in Mandaluyong City, “The Body Shop is an activist brand. We’re more than just a beauty brand but we have advocacies tied into our products as well.”
In a presentation, Cruz shared the brutality behind animal testing methods. The testing usually involves cosmetic substances being tested on animals like rabbits, guinea pigs, rats, or hamsters in order to assess whether a product or a substance is safe for human use.
“How they do it is that they shave off the fur [of an animal] and then place the product directly to the skin. Sometimes, other tests would require to be injected to their eyes or ingested or force-fed. If it will react, it is a failed test, but if it didn’t, then it was okay. However, whether it’s successful or not, they still end up being killed.”
According to Cruelty Free International, more than 500,000 animals are used for testing every year.
The non-profit organization further stated, “With 150 new ingredients being introduced annually by cosmetics companies in Europe alone, it is possible that there are 450 ingredients introduced all over the world each year. The testing of just one ingredient for a deodorant, hair dye or sunscreen, using the guidelines set by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, could involve the death of around 1, 400 animals.”
Track record
It is not the first time that The Body Shop made an initiative to end the practice of animal testing, as it known to be the first global beauty brand to fight the practice.
“Before our founder Dame Anita Roddick, there was no one who campaigned against animal testing. Since the brand started it, we want to continue the work,” Cruz stated.
In 1989, The Body Shop first launched its campaign against animal testing. Having been inspired by the advocacy, UK banned the method in 1998. It was then followed by the European Union (EU) banning animal testing in 2004. After a few years, in 2013, EU banned the sales and importation of animal-tested products.
Although much has been achieved, The Body Shop and Cruelty Free International believed that the international ban on animal testing “everywhere and forever” should be realized.
“We want you to get outraged. We want you to get inspired from the newest technologies from The Body Shop. What we usually do is that we already have self-based technology wherein we try to clone the skin of an actual human person then we try products directly on it. After that process, we have our human volunteers to try these products. The products are 100% vegetarian and totally cruelty-free,” Cruz shared.
To encourage Filipinos to sign the petition, The Body Shop Philippines got five celebrities and influences—beauty blogger and TV host, Janeena Chan; model, Vanessa Matsunaga; ex Pinoy Big Brother housemate Fifth Solomon; actress, Michelle Vito;and race car driver Marlon Stockinger—who will actively participate in promoting the worthy cause.
Expressing support for the campaign, Chan shared, “I’m forever against animal testing because beauty at the expense of cruelty is not beautiful at all.”
Matsunaga, who shared that she has a lot of pets including 13 dogs, two birds, four rabbits, and a couple of chickens lamented the idea that some people don’t respect life.
“It’s so sad that some people still don’t have a regard for life. I grew up in a family that really has respect for life. My parents always taught me that if you find it hard to love animals, you will have a harder time loving human beings,” she shared.
On the other hand, Stockinger, who shared that he has two loving golden retrievers, said that, “I think no animal should be tested for the sake of or at the expense of cosmetics.”
“If we value our own lives, we should also value theirs,” he added.
With the ambassadors kicking off the campaign to spread awareness on the Forever Against Animal Testing Petition, Cruz revealed that there are more events lined up for The Body Shop including campus tours.
Sign up the petition by visiting The Body Shop branches or by visiting foreveragainstanimaltesting.
