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2020 SESSION

20105206D
HOUSE RESOLUTION NO. 14
Offered January 8, 2020
Prefiled January 8, 2020
Memorializing the Congress of the United States to support S. 2886 and H.R. 5141, the Humane Cosmetics Act of 2019.
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Patron-- Gooditis
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Referred to Committee on Rules
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WHEREAS, for more than 50 years, animals have been used in painful tests to assess the safety of certain chemicals used in cosmetics products; and

WHEREAS, modern alternatives to harmful animal testing are increasingly less expensive, faster, and more accurate at predicting human reactions; and

WHEREAS, S. 2886 and H.R. 5141, the Humane Cosmetics Act of 2019, introduced in the United States Senate by Senators Martha McSally (R-AZ), sponsor, Cory Booker (D-NJ), Rob Portman (R-OH), and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) and in the United States House of Representatives by Representatives Don Beyer (D-VA), sponsor, Vern Buchanan (R-FL), Ken Calvert (R-CA), Tony Cárdenas (D-CA), and Paul Tonko (D-NY), would ensure that animals are not harmed in the process of creating or manufacturing cosmetics in the United States; and

WHEREAS, S. 2886 and H.R. 5141 will make it unlawful for anyone to conduct or commission cosmetic animal testing in the United States and will prohibit selling, offering for sale, or transporting any cosmetics in interstate commerce if the final product or any component of the final product was developed or manufactured using new animal testing; and

WHEREAS, mandating and promoting the use of accepted non-animal test methods has, and will continue to have, a significant positive impact on animal welfare; and

WHEREAS, careful evaluation of modern non-animal test methods ensures equal or better protection of people, animals, and the environment; and

WHEREAS, in 2018, Virginia became one of only four states in the nation to pass a law restricting the use of animals in product testing by making it unlawful to use animals for testing when an appropriate, validated alternative method is available; and

WHEREAS, our nation's largest trading partner, the European Union (EU), which accounts for nearly half of the global cosmetics market worth an estimated $90 billion a year, has prohibited the importation and sale of cosmetics that have been tested on animals since March 2013; and

WHEREAS, many nations, including Guatemala, India, Israel, New Zealand, Norway, Switzerland, and Turkey have enacted laws similar to those of the EU; and

WHEREAS, harmonizing international laws that encourage modern science and respond to consumer expectations benefits businesses and consumers in today's global marketplace; and

WHEREAS, polls show that the American public overwhelmingly opposes animal testing for cosmetics; one such poll conducted in 2019 by SurveyUSA showed that 79 percent, or nearly eight out of 10, of poll respondents said that they would support a federal law prohibiting animal testing for cosmetics and that support for such a law was strong across generations and party lines; now, therefore, be it

RESOLVED by the House of Delegates, the Senate concurring, That the Congress of the United States be urged to support S. 2886 and H.R. 5141, the Humane Cosmetics Act of 2019; and, be it

RESOLVED FURTHER, That the Clerk of the House of Delegates transmit copies of this resolution to the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, the President of the United States Senate, and the members of the Virginia Congressional Delegation so that they may be apprised of the sense of the General Assembly of Virginia in this matter.