China Animal Testing Complicates L’Oreal’s Expansion

While the EU prohibits animal testing, large multi-national beauty companies are facing the reverse challenge in China. In broad strokes, local regulations require such testing for new products introduced in the market, which at nearly 35 billion dollars is quickly becoming the most coveted in the world. Samples of all products must be submitted for testing at local levels. L’Oreal has taken similar stances on the matter – maintaining that animals trials are only conducted where mandated by law or when no other alternatives exist. L’Oreal emphasizes the fact that only 1 percent of its total safety tests involve animals, and that it operates a reconstructed sin lab in China for local tests. Everyone is reportedly ‘actively’ working with local authorities on alternative approval methods. The official government stance is that while there is no adversity to alternative testing, they to reach category expertise cannot be developed overnight. (Edited China, 2013)

Reference

Edited China (2013) ‘China Animal Testing Complicates L’Oreal’s Expansion’, 22 August, Available at: http://editedchina.com/post/59674196269/china-animal-testing-complicates-loreals (Accessed: 6 February, 2014)