Shoppers looking for cosmetic products that support animal welfare will have more clarity, with the Australian government beefing up consumer law to address misleading advertising claims.
Laws that banned testing cosmetics on animals in Australia came into effect in July 2020, and now the federal government is backing the legislation with a new voluntary code for the cosmetic industry.
Cosmetics are defined to include make-up, soaps, shampoos, toothpaste, and other personal care items.
Accord Australasia, which represents the cosmetics industry, led the development of the voluntary code.
Director of policy and public affairs Craig Brock said the code provided the industry with labelling and advertising guidance that complemented the animal testing ban.
"I certainly don't think there are any major cases of brands using misleading claims but if you don't follow the law and if you're not looking at these things in detail, you could unintentionally not provide the right advice to consumers."
Consumers care
For many years Australians have cared about the animal welfare standards of products they put in their shopping baskets.
An opinion poll commissioned in 2013 by Humane Research Australia found 85 per cent of consumers opposed testing cosmetics and toiletries on animals.
Nicole Groch from Cruelty Free International Australia said the code was a great step forward but could mislead the average person as it sounded like cosmetics were no longer tested on animals across the board.
"The trouble is there is a loophole, it's not clear enough," she said.
"It just means ingredients used purely for cosmetics and in all honestly very few cosmetics are made with sole purpose cosmetic ingredients.
Ms Groch said although animal testing for cosmetic purposes was banned in Australia, some companies outsourced data from overseas.
"We don't really have cosmetic-testing labs in Australia anymore but we do very much have companies using overseas labs for testing or they're selling into other countries that demand testing," she said.
Mr Brock said companies that opted in to the code could not use data from overseas for regulatory approvals in Australia, including products imported into the country.
Types of testing
There were three main types of animal testing in the cosmetic industry, Ms Groch said, all of which involved the animal being denied pain relief and killed once the test was complete.
"One involves dropping a substance into a restrained animal's eye to see what effect this ingredient has," she said.
"There is a skin test where they basically shave the skin of the animal until it is red raw and then start applying the ingredient over and over again to see what reaction the skin will have.
"They may get gastrointestinal problems or it can be a longer-term study to see if they get cancer, or if it affects their immune system or their brain."
Ms Groch said it was impossible to know how many companies still used animal testing in their supply chains, but she estimated in Australia that figure would be around 50 per cent of brands.
The real deal
The code also aims to address the findings of consumer research undertaken by the Australian Department of Health, which found a lack of information about animal testing for cosmetics in Australia.
Mr Brock said registered logos, such as Cruelty Free International's 'leaping bunny', were a good way for consumers to identify products abiding by the code.
"Companies can still make their own claims, but there are certain things in the code that now are going to be problematic if brands want to use certain kinds of terms.
"Using emotive terms, such as 'cruelty free' or ambiguous terms such as 'animal friendly' are hard to define in Australian consumer law, so therefor it is hard to determine whether or not, from the consumers' viewpoint, if the product has been tested on animals, when an emotive claim like that is made."
