Former M.A.C. Model Pamela Anderson Urges Company To End Animal Tests

Former Viva Glam M.A.C. model Pamela Anderson is appealing to the cosmetics company to resume its cruelty-free policy and stop paying for animal tests. M.A.C.—along with parent company Estée Lauder—has reneged on its commitment to spare animals painful and deadly toxicity tests by selling products in China, where nearly all cosmetics are required to be tested on animals, unlike in the U.S. and Europe.

“I was very disturbed to learn from PETA that M.A.C. … is selling products in China, where the company funds painful tests on animals in order to meet the country’s archaic regulations,” says PETA honorary director Anderson in a letter to Estée Lauder Companies Inc. president John Demsey. “This has tainted the brand and alienated many of the company’s longtime allies.”

Several companies—including Paul Mitchell, Urban Decay, and Pangea—have either pulled out of China or refuse to sell there until testing policies are modernized.

As documented by PETA toxicity tests include eye irritancy tests, in which rabbits are placed in restraining stocks while substances are applied to their eyes, and skin tests, in which substances are rubbed onto the abraded skin of rabbits to check for the severity of the reaction. After being forced to endure these painful tests, the animals are then killed.

Anderson’s full letter can be viewed here.