Today, Thursday, September 2, the Mexico Senate unanimously approved the draft decree to prohibit the use of animals in cosmetic product testing.
With 103 votes in favor, zero against, and zero abstentions, the legislators of all the political parties within the Senate of the Republic unified criteria to approve the opinion on the reform of the General Law of Health so that any type of experimentation or testing of cosmetic products on animals is expressly prohibited.
Mexico promotes a global agenda in favor of animal defense, since multiple laboratories that produce shampoos, soaps, rejuvenating creams, skin lightening, and makeup first test their products on animals, causing them to suffer through testing and poor living conditions.
Olga Sánchez Cordero, the new president of the Board of Directors of the Chamber of Senators, indicated that the approved opinion will be turned over to the federal executive power for its ratification and publication in the Official Gazette of the Federation ( DOF ) so that this reform can become law.
The document, returned to the Senate, establishes that cosmetic research may not include tests on animals of cosmetic ingredients, of finished cosmetic products, or of their ingredients or their mixture.
In addition to this, under the perspective of inhibiting this practice thoroughly, neither will it be possible to manufacture, import, or commercialize cosmetic products when their final formulation is tested on animals, and when they contain ingredients or combinations of these that are or have been tested on animals.
Likewise, to encourage responsible consumption and guarantee the consumer’s right to information, the labeling of commercialized cosmetic products may indicate that no tests have been carried out on animals in their manufacture.
Anyone who hires, authorizes, conducts, participates in, or develops cosmetic tests on animals will be punished with a penalty of two to seven years in prison and a fine equivalent to 200 to 2,000 times the value of the Update Measurement Unit ( UMA ).
In addition, it requires a period of 180 days to issue the legal provisions necessary for the application of the decree and highlights that the Ministry of Health ( SSa ), in the attention of its budget availability, will encourage and provide facilities for national research aimed at developing model alternatives to the use of animal tests, validated by the international scientific community.
Finally, a period of two years is provided from the issuance of the legal provisions so that manufacturers can substitute cosmetic tests on animals with alternative methods to evaluate the safety and efficacy of cosmetic products.
Today, Thursday, September 2, the Mexico Senate unanimously approved the draft decree to prohibit the use of animals in cosmetic product testing.
