The European Parliament has agreed that a global ban on cosmetics testing on animals needs to be enforced.
The EU banned all sales of animal-tested beauty products in 2013, but today a majority of 620 MEPs voted in favour of rallying the United Nations to follow suit.
“Five years after the full EU bans, the time is right to go one step further,” said Michelle Thew, CEO of Cruelty Free International (CFI), the NGO driving the global ban.
“The leadership that MEPs have shown by adopting this resolution deserves much credit.
“Now it’s time to work together to deliver a global end to cosmetics animal testing and eliminate animal suffering around the world.”
According to CFI, despite the availability of approved accurate non-animal tests, there are still no laws banning animal tests for cosmetics products and ingredients in 80% of the world.
Last June, The Body Shop and CFI joined forces to push the worldwide ban by 2020.
As part of the campaign the organisations launched an online petition, which needs eight million signatures to progress to the UN – it has garnered 5.7 million in ten months.
“The Body Shop is pushing hard for a global ban to end cosmetic animal testing everywhere and forever,” said Jessie Macneil-Brown, Head of Global Campaigns at The Body Shop.
“The EU ban has demonstrated that it is possible to have a healthy, thriving cosmetics market without the need for animal testing and today’s positive vote will take us a big step closer to an international agreement.”
More states in the US have proposed bills to end the practice, including New York, California and Hawaii.