Physicians Denounce Plan in U.S. Senate to Roll Back Cruelty-Free Cosmetics Laws

WASHINGTON—If passed by the U.S. Senate, a hazardous provision included in S.4348, the Food and Drug Administration Safety and Landmark Advancements Act (FDASLA), will have a sweeping and devastating impact for animals protected by laws in eight states that ban the sale of animal-tested cosmetics.

“If Congress passes this provision, painful and unnecessary tests on animals in the cosmetics industry will continue without limits, and states would be prohibited from banning these tests in the future,” says Kristie Sullivan, MPH, vice president of research policy for the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, a nonprofit of more than 17,000 doctors. The Physicians Committee was a co-sponsor of the first state law of this kind, the California Cruelty-Free Cosmetics Act, signed into law in 2018.

Sec. 802 of FDASLA includes “Sec. 614. Preemption.” Sec. 614 would preempt state laws like the California Cruelty-Free Cosmetics Act and others. California’s law, which banned the sale of cosmetics tested on animals, and similar laws on the books in seven other states, would be erased and invalidated. The provision under consideration in the Senate would prohibit California and other states from enforcing their existing laws regarding cosmetics and would prohibit passing future laws as well.

Cruelty-free cosmetics laws support modern, reliable cosmetic safety testing, while protecting animals from unnecessary suffering. Multiple public opinion polls show that U.S. consumers support ending animal testing for cosmetics, and a 2015 Nielsen poll found that “not tested on animals” was the most important consumer packaging claim for respondents across all age groups.

“While we are working to modernize safety testing across the globe, this one provision would remove years of progress and have a devastating impact for thousands of animals who will suffer unnecessary cruelty,” Sullivan says.

FDASLA advanced through the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions on June 14, and may be considered soon by the full Senate. The Physicians Committee calls upon the U.S. Senate to remove Sec. 614 before FDASLA’s final consideration.