Banned for more than a decade in Europe, animal testing continues to be talked about. And for good reason, many consumers still believe that they are practiced by professionals in the beauty industry. The FEBEA has conducted a survey with the Opinion Way polling institute in order to better understand the beliefs of the French in this area… and to deconstruct them.
The study was conducted between March 31 and April 1, 2021, on a sample of 1015 people over 18 years old and representative of the French population.
This survey reveals that:
• 73% of the panel believe that some cosmetic products are still being tested on animals in France
• 11% of respondents believe that these protocols are systematic
This opinion is most widespread among 25-34 year olds (82%). However, animal testing is prohibited in the European Union. According to Françoise Audebert, Regulatory and Scientific Advisor at FEBEA, several factors explain why these ideas persist in the minds of consumers.
“There are two reasons. The first is the existence, in some countries of the world, of tests carried out by local authorities. These practices rightly give rise to numerous debates that reach as far as Europe, even though the ban has already been in force there since 2004. The second reason is that some products continue to display mentions such as ‘not tested on animals’, which suggests that products that do not display this mention would practice these tests. This is obviously not true, but it creates confusion for consumers. These claims are not authorized by the French and European …
