Asked by: Catherine West (Labour - Hornsey and Wood Green)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether the Government plans to reintroduce the ban on animal experimentation.
Answered by Tom Tugendhat - Minister of State (Home Office) (Security)
Animal testing of cosmetics for consumer safety has been banned in the UK since 1998 and this remains in force.
On 17 May 2023 the Government announced it is going further by banning, with immediate effect, licences to test ingredients exclusively used in the production of cosmetics for the purposes of worker safety.
The Home Secretary has issued a Written Ministerial Statement, which can be found here: https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-statements/detail/2023-05-17/hcws779.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if she will review her Department's policies on the testing cosmetic products on animals.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Home Office is responsible for animal testing. The Home Secretary made a statement which can be found here.
Asked by: Derek Thomas (Conservative - St Ives)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of introducing legislative proposals on banning animal testing of substances exclusively for use in cosmetics (a) where testing is required in order to assess the risk to workers of exposure to that substance and (b) in all other circumstances.
Answered by Tom Tugendhat - Minister of State (Home Office) (Security)
Animal testing of cosmetics for consumer safety has been banned in the UK since 1998 and this remains in force.
On 17 May 2023 the Government announced it is going further by banning, with immediate effect, licences to test ingredients exclusively used in the production of cosmetics for the purposes of worker safety.
The Home Secretary has issued a Written Ministerial Statement, which can be found here: https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-statements/detail/2023-05-17/hcws779.
Asked by: Emma Hardy (Labour - Kingston upon Hull West and Hessle)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many licenses for animal testing of cosmetic ingredients have been issued since 2019 as a result of the European Chemicals Agency ruling; and to whom those licenses were issued.
Answered by Tom Tugendhat - Minister of State (Home Office) (Security)
Animal testing of cosmetics for consumer safety has been banned in the UK since 1998 and this remains in force.
On 17 May 2023 the Government announced it is going further by banning, with immediate effect, licences to test ingredients exclusively used in the production of cosmetics for the purposes of worker safety.
The Home Secretary has issued a Written Ministerial Statement, which can be found here: https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-statements/detail/2023-05-17/hcws779.
Since 2019, the Animals in Science Regulation Unit has granted seven project licences, or amendments to licences, that specifically authorise the testing on animals of chemicals for use as ingredients in cosmetics under the REACH regulations.
The Home Office does not publish details of licensed establishments.
Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, if his Department will take steps to ensure that manufacturers cannot label hair relaxers as containing no-lye if they include sodium hydroxide in the ingredients list; and if he will make an assessment of the prevalence of this practice.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Cosmetic Regulations state that a cosmetic product can not imply that the product has a characteristic or function which it does not have. Additionally, it requires products to include a full list of ingredients on the product’s label. Lye is the common name for sodium hydroxide. To be compliant with the regulations a product that contains lye as an ingredient must include this information on the label.
The Office for Product Safety and Standards, in its role as the regulator for cosmetic products, will take appropriate action to ensure the safety of consumers should non-compliance with the Cosmetic Regulations be identified.
Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the implications for his policies on breast cancer of research linking lye hair product usage and breast cancer incidence amongst black women.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
No assessment has been made.
Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether her Department has made an assessment of the impact of hair relaxers containing lye on (a) the health of black women and (b) associated health outcomes and inequalities experienced by black women.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
An assessment of the impact of hair relaxers containing lye on the health of, or associated health outcomes experienced by, black women has not been undertaken by the Department.
Lye is already a restricted substance under annex III of the Cosmetics Regulations 2009. There are specific rules in place both for general and professional use of cosmetic products containing this ingredient.
The Office for Product Safety and Standards, in its role as the regulator for cosmetic products, often commissions scientific assessment of the safety of chemicals. If new evidence becomes available, the Government will take the appropriate action to ensure the safety of consumers.
Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has had recent discussions with the Secretary of State for Business and Trade on the impact of hair relaxers that are labelled as including no-lye when sodium hydroxide is listed in the ingredients on women's health; and if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of banning hair relaxers containing lye.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
Ministers regularly engage with other Cabinet colleagues on a range of issues relating to health and social care and other matters. There are currently no plans to make an assessment.
Asked by: Ruth Jones (Labour - Newport West)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, pursuant to the Answer of 27 April 2022 to Question 157481 on chemicals, what tests have been conducted on imported and ecommerce consumer products for the presence of lysmeral above legal concentration limits.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
There have been no changes to the regulatory position of Lysmeral under REACH since the answer given by my Hon. Friend the Member for Bury St Edmunds (Jo Churchill) on 27 April 2022, UIN 157481. That means there are no grounds under REACH for testing for its presence in products.
Lysmeral is a prohibited substance for use in cosmetics under annex II of the Cosmetics Regulations 2009 and has been since December 2022. Enforcement authorities, the Office for Product Safety and Standards and Trading Standards, test products where intelligence dictates the need to do so because, for example, it is suspected that a particular product contains a banned or limited substance.
Asked by: Peter Gibson (Conservative - Darlington)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to help protect dogs from (a) cosmetic and (b) medical testing; and if she will make it her policy to take legislative steps to prohibit the use of dogs for (i) cosmetic and (ii) medical testing.
Answered by Tom Tugendhat - Minister of State (Home Office) (Security)
Animal testing of cosmetics to permit their marketing for consumer use has been banned in the UK since 1998. It is illegal to test cosmetic products or their ingredients on animals if that testing is to meet the requirements of the Cosmetics Regulations 2009. Chemicals legislation to protect human health and the environment may require animal testing as a last resort, where there are no alternatives, under the UK REACH Regulations. However, this does not include finished cosmetic products.
Animal testing is required by global medicines regulators to protect human health and safety. Many products which would not be safe or effective in humans are detected through animal testing thus avoiding harm to humans.
The Government is committed to assuring that those animals used in science, including dogs, are protected. The legal framework in the UK requires that animals are only ever used in scientific procedures where there are no alternatives, where the number of animals used is the minimum needed to achieve the scientific benefit, and where the potential harm to animals is limited to that needed to achieve the scientific benefit.