L'Occitane and Yves Rocher: The big-name beauty brands among those ditching cruelty-free animal testing policies to sell their products to China

Going global: Big-name beauty brands have changed their animal testing policies so they can start 

selling their products in China (posed by model)

l            By law, all human cosmetics sold in China must first be tested on animals

l            Lucrative Chinese beauty sales rose by 18 per cent to £10bn last year

l            Cruelty Free International chief executive 'disappointed' to see brands 'letting animals pay the price' for their profit-chasing

Suzannah Hills (2012) argues that the big names in the cosmetics industry the world over are ditching cruelty-free animal testing policies so as to sell to China. The Chinese law demands that all human cosmetics first be tested on animals. The growth in the Chinese cosmetics industry to £10bn has attracted international players. L’Oreal is among these firms and it has entered the Chinese market through another firm which means it upholds animal testing. The argument is that it is disappointing to let animals pay the price for the firm’s profit chasing and hence there is need to prevent animal testing.

Reference:

Hulls, S. (2012) ‘L'Occitane and Yves Rocher: The big-name beauty brands among those ditching cruelty-free animal testing policies to sell their products to China’, Mail online, 1 August, Available at: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2181468/Big-beauty-brands-dropping-cruelty-free-animal-testing-policies-sell-products-China.html (Accessed: 17 December, 2013)