China doubles the number of protected animals & removes mandatory animal testing on cosmetics!

Updated list of protected wildlife

China recently announced that it is doubling the number of protected wild animals under its new conservation rules. In 32 years, this is the first time that these animals are added to the list.

Many of the species are birds, but wolves were also added for the first time. Harming any of the 980 species on the new list would bring a fine of 100.000 Yuan, or 15.500 USD.

It took more than 3 decades to get here, but Chinese environmental groups and advocates finally got their wish: an updated protected wildlife animals list with more than 500 species on it.

However, some exemptions still exist. Skins of captive-bred tigers can be processed into luxury home decor, and medicines that contain leopard bone parts and pangolin scales can still be manufacture and also sold on the domestic market.

Ban on most animal testing

In another news, China’s National Medical Products Administration announced this week that it will soon implement new regulations, including an exemption to the mandatory pre-market animal testing of certain imported general-use cosmetics.

Currently, any company that wishes to sell in China has to submit to testing products on other animals first. However, with the new rule, most cosmetics that fall in the 'general' category won't be required to do these tests! This refers to hair dyes, hair permit products, skin whitening products, sunscreens, anti-hair loss products and other cosmetics that claim new function or new efficacy and are subject to registration.

This can only be done if the company can provide a certification issued by the authorities in the country of origin regarding a quality management system for cosmetics production, and results of product safety evaluation that sufficiently proves the product's safety.

However, an important reminder is that this only applies to ''pre-market animal testing'', which means they do not consider the secondary concern of animal testing requirements in case of customer complaints or product recalls. Nonetheless, it is a clear sign that China is finally 'relaxing' its principled stance on the issue.

Which means the fight is not over,

until every animal is free!