Senate Joint Resolution
No. 22
CHAPTER 73
Relative to cruelty-free cosmetics.
[
Filed with
Secretary of State
June 24, 2014.
]
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
SJR 22, Block.
Cruelty-free cosmetics.
This measure would urge the United States Congress to enact legislation that would establish reasonable deadlines for the prohibition of the testing and marketing of cosmetic products that have been tested on animals. The measure would also urge the federal government to mandate alternative methods to animal testing of cosmetic products and to prioritize the validation and acceptance of additional nonanimal tests.
Digest Key
Fiscal Committee:
NO WHEREAS, For more than 50 years, animals have been used in painful tests to assess the safety of certain chemicals used in cosmetic products; and
WHEREAS, Modern alternatives to harmful animal testing are increasingly less expensive, faster, and more accurate at predicting human reactions; and
WHEREAS, Mandating and promoting the use of accepted alternative methods to animal testing has, and will continue to have, a huge positive impact on animal welfare; and
WHEREAS, Careful evaluation of alternative methods to animal tests ensures that their proper use supports the equal or better protection of people, animals, and the environment; and
WHEREAS, In 2000, California became the first state in the nation to pass a law restricting the use of animals in product testing by making it unlawful to use animals for testing when an appropriate, validated, alternative method is available; and
WHEREAS, Our nation’s largest trading partner, the European Union, which accounts for nearly half of the global cosmetics market worth an estimated $90 billion a year, prohibits the importation and sale of cosmetics that have been tested on animals as of March 2013; and
WHEREAS, Norway, India, Israel, and the state of Sao Paulo, Brazil have also banned all animal testing for cosmetics; and
WHEREAS, Harmonizing international laws that encourage modern science and respond to consumer expectations benefits businesses and consumers in today’s global marketplace; and
WHEREAS, Polls show that the American public overwhelmingly supports alternatives to testing cosmetics on animals. A recent poll conducted by ORC International, a leading global market research firm, found that 72 percent of American adults surveyed believe that testing cosmetics on animals is unethical; now, therefore, be it
Resolved by the Senate and the Assembly of the State of California, jointly, That the Legislature urges the United States Congress to enact legislation that would establish reasonable deadlines for the prohibition of the testing and marketing of cosmetic products that have been tested on animals; and be it further
Resolved, That the Legislature urges the federal government to mandate alternative methods to animal testing of cosmetic products, whenever those scientifically satisfactory methods are available, and to prioritize the validation and acceptance of additional nonanimal tests; and be it further
Resolved, That the Secretary of the Senate transmit copies of this resolution to the President and Vice President of the United States, to the Majority Leader of the Senate, to the Speaker of the House of Representatives, to each Senator and Representative from California in the Congress of the United States, to the Governor of California, and to the author for appropriate distribution.