Villa Legislation Banning Sale of Animal-Tested Products Advances to Governor

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. – To promote the humane treatment of animals, state Rep. Karina Villa, D-West Chicago, is sponsoring legislation that will ban the sale of animal-tested cosmetics in Illinois. Villa’s measure received strong bipartisan support in the Illinois House and Senate, and now heads to Gov. J.B. Pritzker to be signed into law.

“Banning the sale of cosmetics that have been tested on animals is an important first step in encouraging companies to transition away from animal testing completely, which will encourage the use of testing technology that is both more effective and humane,” said Villa. “This legislation will protect animals from needless pain and trauma caused by safety tests.”

Villa is sponsoring Senate Bill 241, which will prohibit the sale of animal-tested cosmetics and other products by 2020. Currently, there is very little regulation on animal testing by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and specific tests to demonstrate the safety of individual cosmetic products or their ingredients are not mandated. While products that were previously tested on animals but are already sold in Illinois will not be impacted by the legislation, this measure will encourage companies to utilize new technologies that are cruelty-free for their product safety testing methods.

“Evolving testing technology methods, like chemical tests and computer models, are more accurate, efficient and cost-effective than animal testing,” continued Villa. “Through this measure, Illinois is taking a clear stand in saying testing on animals is wrong, especially when there are better testing alternatives available.”