Former Viva Glam M.A.C. model Pamela Anderson is appealing to the cosmetics company to resume its cruelty-free policy and stop paying for animal tests. M.A.C. — along with parent company Estée Lauder — has reneged on its commitment to spare animals painful and deadly toxicity tests by selling products in China, where nearly all cosmetics are required to be tested on animals, unlike in the U.S. and Europe.
“I was very disturbed to learn from PETA that M.A.C. … is selling products in China, where the company funds painful tests on animals in order to meet the country’s archaic regulations,” says Anderson, a PETA honorary director, in a letter to Estée Lauder Companies Inc. President John Demsey. “This has tainted the brand and alienated many of the company’s longtime allies.”
Several companies — including Paul Mitchell, Urban Decay, and Pangea — have either pulled out of China or refused to sell there until testing policies are modernized.
“Hundreds of thousands of rabbits, mice, rats, guinea pigs, and other animals are killed in cruel tests for cosmetics in China every year,” wrote Anderson. “These tests aren’t required in the U.S. and are illegal in the European Union, India, and Israel. Animals are confined to small barren cages and suffer immensely as they have substances dripped into their eyes, rubbed onto their raw shaved skin, or forced down their throats. The tests are conducted without any painkillers, and the animals are killed after the tests are over.”
