No to animal testing

The Body Shop recently launched #ForeverAgainstAnimalTesting campaign in the Philippines at SM Megamall Mega Fashion Hall. 

The event also introduced the brand’s #ForeverAgainstAnimalTesting ambassadors, who are also avowed animal lovers: model Vanessa Matsunaga, ABS-CBN artists Michelle Vito and Fifth Solomon, host Janeena Chan, and racing driver Marlon Stockinger. 

The Body Shop, the iconic global brand first to fight against animal testing in cosmetics, hopes to get eight million signatures to present to the UN General Assembly in 2018. And mall visitors joined the celebrities and members of the media in signing up for a good cause.

Other celebrities who have posted support for the campaign include model Bar Rafaeli, actor Adrian Grnier, and Nykhor, the former face of Louis Vuitton.    

In the last three decades, The Body Shop has worked with its campaign partner Cruelty Free International. Their collective efforts helped lead to a European Union ban in 2013.  However, 80 percent of countries still allow animal testing, and they want to end this practice everywhere and forever.

It will be remembered that in 1989, The Body Shop started campaigning to end animal testing in cosmetics, the first global cosmetics company to do so.  Following its sustained campaign, the UK government banned animal testing of cosmetic products and ingredients in 1998.

In 2003, campaigning by The Body Shop and BUAV (British Union for the Abolition of Vivisection, now Cruelty Free International) contributed to a European Union ban in animal testing in cosmetic products, which was implemented in 2009.

The Body Shop celebrated history in 2013 when the EU ban was completed with the prohibition of the sale and import of animal tested products and ingredients. Its campaign with Cruelty Free International collected a million signatures across the world. South Korea, New Zealand, and India now have a variety of bans in place.

Australia is set to follow with a ban promised by July 2017 as is Taiwan in 2019.  Cruelty Free International scientists in Vietnam are now discussing with Thailand and other governments the possibility of a ban across ASEAN.

But how does The Body Shop test?  It uses three main testing methods involving computer data, laboratory created tissues, and people.

Its n-silico (computer based analysis) uses readily available, existing data, which assess the suitability of similar materials through a process of extrapolation of this information.  

Laboratory-produced Episkin (created by L’Oreal), is grown from human skin cells, allows The Body Shop to conduct safety checks on cells that react virtually the same as human skin without harming any people or animals.

Finally, to ensure good tolerance on people, The Body Shop often tests its products using patch testing, which involves placing a very small amount of product on a person’s skin to ensure that it is safe and effective.  

Join the #ForeverAgainstAnimalTesting (#FAAT) campaign by animal testing free beauty products and signing the petition at The Body Shop stores and online. 

The Body Shop now accepts SM Advantage Card for points earning and redemption, SM and Sodexo premium pass in all The Body Shop stores nationwide.