Following on from the state of California's announcement that it would be banning animal-tested products, beauty giant Unilever has now thrown its support behind the cause.
Collaborating with animal protection agency Humane Society International (HSI), Unilever will be supporting HSI's global #BeCrueltyFree initiative.
The initiative is looking to lead legislative reform in key beauty markets to ban cosmetic animal testing and trade. It also has been launched to raise awareness about the process of animal testing and educate consumers around the issue.
#BeCrueltyFree wants to create laws consistent with the EU, who banned animal testing back in 2013; although despite this over 80 per cent of global countries allow animal testing to continue to happen.
Unilever chief research officer David Blanchard said in a statement: "We hope that an adoption of similar bans in other countries will accelerate the regulatory acceptance of alternative approaches, and thereby remove any requirements for any animal testing for cosmetics anywhere in the world."
This isn't Unilever's first move as a personal care and cosmetics company pushing for cruelty-free products. Dove recently gained accreditation by PETA, and moving forward its cruelty-free logo will begin to appear on Dove packaging from January 2019.
