We have officially joined the Be Cruelty Free campaign - an international campaign led by the Humane Society International (HSI) with the aim of banning testing cosmetics on animals worldwide.

This is an exciting time for NZAVS to be joining the Be Cruelty-Free campaign. Globally, it's the biggest campaign in the world to end the cruel and unnecessary practice of cosmetics animal testing. And here in New Zealand, it has put the issue on the political map.

An end to cosmetics cruelty is what consumers want, it's supported by industry and championed by the world's largest cosmetics market, the European Union. New Zealand's politicians need to hop to it and get this ban done, fast.

Be Cruelty-Free's goals have strong public support in New Zealand. Opinion polls show that 88.6% of Kiwis want a ban on cosmetics animal testing.

The United Kingdom stopped this cruelty nearly 20 years ago, and it's now banned across the whole of the European Union, as well as Norway, Israel and India, with more countries debating legislation as we speak. This is New Zealand's chance to show it is part of this tremendous global shift towards cruelty-free cosmetics.

In animal tests, rabbits, guinea pigs and other animals endure considerable suffering. They can have cosmetic chemicals dripped in their eyes, spread on their skin or force fed to them in lethal doses. Although it is believed that cosmetic animal testing seldom if ever takes place in New Zealand, it is still legal to sell cosmetics that have been animal-tested abroad.

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