Estimates say that around 38,000 laboratory animals are killed to test new lotions, make-up and hairspray annually in the European Union (eu). However, a new legislation will change all this. It would ban the sale of new cosmetics tested on animals by 2005, even if the experiments were conducted outside the eu. The draft law was overwhelmingly approved by a committee.

However, some eu legislators were sceptical about the law as it would not ban products already allowed for sale, whether or not they have been tested on animals in the past. British Conservative member of parliament John Bowis said that a test ban in the eu, without a blanket ban on sales, would not reduce cruelty to animals. "It would simply export testing to countries where not even our standards of animal welfare may be in place.' he added.