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| Europe |
| Secret French move to block animal-testing ban |
| 2003-08-19 |
| French continue digging the hole they’re in: France, home to the world’s largest cosmetics company, L’Oréal, has quietly launched a legal action aimed at killing off a historic EU ban on animal-tested cosmetics, the Guardian has learned. The EU measure, agreed this year after 13 years of negotiations, will phase in a near-total ban on the sale of animal-tested cosmetic products throughout the EU from 2009 and put a stop to all animal testing. It has been hailed as one of the most significant pieces of EU legislation on animal welfare. Besieged by lobbyists from its cosmetics industry, France has lodged a case at the European court of justice in Luxembourg demanding that the ban be quashed on legal and technical grounds. The French cosmetics industry is one of the few in Europe still to have an animal testing programme and companies such as L’Oréal contribute millions of euros to the French economy. Add L’Oreal to the "will not buy" list. Animal rights campaigners said they were appalled by the French move. "It has taken animal campaigners and the European parliament a frustrating 13-year struggle to finally secure legislation to outlaw the suffering of lab animals to produce trivial products like lipstick and perfume," said Wendy Higgins of the British Union for the Abolition of Vivisection (BUAV). "It is shameful enough that it has taken this long, impeded as we have been at every stage by aggressive industry lobbying. It is even more shameful that a challenge to actually reverse the EU cosmetics animal testing ban has been brought forward." No blood for perfume! |
| Posted by:Steve |
| #7 It doesn't surprise me. Probably the ONLY product American women might look the other way to purchase were their cosmetics. I confess, I actually broke down and bought one of their highlighting kits recently...but I mean...why not...It seemed almost appropriate to help delay the inevitable collapse of their economy by supporting the one thing the French actually do well...provide vanity products. But supporting the animal testing is just too much. Jessh..how many rabbits do you have to poison to death to come up with the label..."keep product out of eyes"? Quick..sell your stock in LOreal and check out Revlon or some cruelty-free alternative...this will kill LOreal faster than a bunny in an LD50/50 test. |
| Posted by: Becky 2003-8-20 12:11:21 PM |
| #6 NMM,I'm Finnish.My country follows the EU rules to the letter.Everytime the French and the Italians (the second-dodgiest nation) get away with breaking the law,we lose. |
| Posted by: El Id 2003-8-19 6:49:16 PM |
| #5 But NMM, it is a well-known fact that we only act in the neo-con, law of the jungle version of capitalism. The French, OTOH, love Kyoto, ICC, UN, The Third Way, etc. In other words, they're being hypocritical by acting in their own interests. We are being normal Americans by acting in our own interest. Non? |
| Posted by: Michael 2003-8-19 5:03:42 PM |
| #4 Bwahaha RC! Heaven knows we never do anything in our country's business interests!! "Durn Europeons better start lettin' our Franken foods in err else!"-- and we ain't even gonna mention OIL INTERESTS-- no Siree, no Ma'am! |
| Posted by: Not Mike Moore 2003-8-19 4:46:05 PM |
| #3 They do this every time,whether it's energy deregulation,corporate subsidies,agriculture,you name it.The French attitude is that the laws don't apply to them,and if you want to play it straight and narrow,that's your problem,sucker. |
| Posted by: El Id 2003-8-19 12:25:50 PM |
| #2 Don't worry, Mitch. Their only reason for doing this is to remove a restriction on one of their major companies. If they thought it would hurt companies from other countries without hurting them, they'd be all for it. |
| Posted by: Robert Crawford 2003-8-19 10:42:36 AM |
| #1 Well, shit. Just when I thought the world was conspiring to reinforce my anti-French bigotry, the French have to go and do something I respect, like spit in the collective eye of animal-rights moonbattry. Next thing you'll know, the French will be pulling their craniums out of their collective rectal cavity on GMO. |
| Posted by: Mitch H. 2003-8-19 10:33:27 AM |