Health ministry mulls ban on cosmetic testing on animals

India`s health ministry Wednesday said it is considering a proposal by People for Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) for a ban on testing of cosmetics on animals, a PETA statement said Wednesday. PETA`s science policy advisor Chaitanya Koduri and Guru S. Nair of the Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee Wednesday held talks with S. Manivannan, deputy drug controller at the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation, under the health ministry, as part of PETA`s ongoing campaign against cosmetic testing on animals. According to a statement, Manivannan indicated willingness to consider a proposal regarding a ban by the ministry. Koduri is also seeking a meeting with Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad on the issue. PETA`s call for an end to the usage of animals to test cosmetics has already gained endorsement from the Indian Council of Medical Research, said the statement. "Testing cosmetics on animals is old-fashioned, unnecessary, kills animals and does nothing to protect consumers," said Koduri, adding that human-relevant and humane non-animal methods of testing the safety of cosmetic products were already available. More than 1,000 companies around the world have banned all animal tests, but many still choose to subject animals to painful tests in which substances are smeared on their skin, sprayed in their faces or forced down their throats. Because of the vast physiological differences between humans and the animals used in these tests, the results are often misleading, PETA said.