The best thing you can do right now is use your consumer power! Only buy cosmetics and other products that are not tested on animals. You can look at our handy Cruelty Free Guide for a selection of some of the best products available, and you can take the pledge to be cruelty-free.
This page will help you understand why this is so important. On this page you can learn about:
The history
The campaign to stop cosmetics being tested on animals has a rich history in New Zealand. NZAVS was part of a coalition pushing for changes in the law to stop this horrible practice.
We were victorious! In 2015, the government added a clause to the Animal Welfare Act. This clause prevents cosmetics being tested on animals within New Zealand. It was a major achievement for the animals!
But there is more work to do. The Animal Welfare Act does not address what happens in other countries, so companies are still able to test their cosmetics on animals before they are imported into New Zealand. Nor does it prevent other products, such as washing powder, from being tested on animals.
Today
More and more brands around the globe are moving away from the cruelty of animal testing.
This is no accident. It is a direct result of people around the world voting with their wallets and showing that there is a demand for cruelty-free products. That is why it is so important for you to take the pledge and use our Cruelty Free Guide and only buy products that you know are not cruel to animals.
We need to keep up this momentum and keep shifting the world towards a kinder way of doing things. If there’s a company you’re curious about that isn’t on our guide, you can encourage them to apply for our guide or you can contact them yourself. You could even encourage your workplace to buy products from our Guide!
A cruelty-free future
As more and more brands are going cruelty-free, we are creating an avalanche effect.
In time, we can get retailers to change too. Imagine walking into a shop to buy some cosmetics and realising that every single brand on the shelves is cruelty-free!
Over time, retailers will feel the pressure to shift away from products tested on animals, creating further pressure for change. As more and more alternatives appear, it is possible that a full legal ban on importing cosmetics on animals may one day be possible.
And all of this starts with voting with your wallet today. That’s why it is so important to support the Cruelty Free NZ campaign and shop cruelty-free.
Further reading:
- Return to the main Cruelty Free NZ page.
- Check out our Cruelty Free Guide.
- Read about the rules for what is cruelty-free.
- Find out about what happens to the animals (warning: disturbing content).
- If you are curious about the specifics of the law, you can read the Animal Welfare Act.
- Read about how to tell if a cosmetic has been tested on animals.
