Animal Testing in Australia Survey

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I am working on a report that will be submitted to the Government in November this year. The report concerns the legal/regulatory arguments for the mandatory labelling of cosmetics that are tested on animals.

For those of you who thought that animal testing is not a big deal, consider that 6.4 million animals were experimented on in research labs around Australia in 2003-4. This includes mice, rabbits, dogs, cats, etc.

Most of the cosmetic testing carried out involves toxicity testing which means that the animal is force-fed the chemicals used in the products, or the chemicals are rubbed into the animals' eyes or into their skin. Most of this testing is also lethal. The animal is killed and discarded at the end (if it doesn't die of toxic poisoning first).

This report investigates a legal argument for adding 'Tested on animals' or 'Not tested on animals' to all cosmetic labelling (male and female products). This includes make-up, hair products, perfume, etc.

The argument is that people need to be informed about what they are buying, and they should therefore have the choice to buy more ethical products if they want to. It's a similar argument to the current 'free range' and '‘caged eggs' labelling that you now see on egg cartons.

A very important part of the report is the public interest component. We need to show that the general public is supportive of mandatory labelling.

Please take a couple of minutes to complete the following survey to help us with our report:

www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=8xeWlea_2fPJq1WNXb0dIYEA_3d_3d

Also, if you could please forward this information to anyone and everyone you have ever met in your entire life (who currently lives in Australia), that would be great too!

Many thanks

Shatha Hamade

More info about cosmetic testing at www.choosecrueltyfree.org.au