By 2009, it will be illegal to test cosmetics on animals in European Union member countries or to sell cosmetics that were tested on animals. The Knesset will vote Wednesday on two bills that conform to the new EU regulations.

The first bill proposes banning animal testing for cosmetics and cleaning products, while the second would also ban imports of products tested on animals abroad. Both go to a preliminary vote in the Knesset plenum on Wednesday.

MK Gideon Sa'ar (Likud), the sponsor of both bills, believes there is a "pretty good" chance that the testing ban will be passed. The Council on Animal Experimentation, which supervises animal testing, and the Health Ministry, under whose auspices the council operates, are both fiercely opposed to the bill, but on Sunday the draft law passed its first legislative hurdle when it was approved, by a majority of eight to three, by the Ministerial Committee on Legislation.

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Much of the local cosmetics market is based on imports, and many of the largest cosmetics manufacturers in the world still conduct experiments on animals. The chances for success of a bill that would ban the imported of animal-tested products are not clear. On Sunday, the ministerial committee rejected this second draft law, by a single vote.

Economics vs. values

In the absence of coalition support, Sa'ar will have a hard time rounding up a Knesset majority for the bills. The main obstacle is the economic interest of the importers and the companies that market their products on the local market, he says. "As soon as the state recognizes that the appropriate norm is to stop carrying out animal experiments for cosmetics and cleaning products, the only reason for imported products to be treated any differently would be economic interests, and those, in my opinion, do not have the same weight as the issue of values," Sa'ar said.

The tests cause the animal subjects a great deal of suffering. Most of the tests are conducted on rabbits, rats and other small rodents. According to Tamir Lousky, a master's student in the life sciences and the local representative of InterNICHE, the International Network for Humane Education, the main tests are for toxicity and for potential to irritate the skin. He says that one of the standard tests for irritation involves shaving an area of the animal's skin and applying the substance being tested using an adhesive bandage. The animal is restrained to prevent removal of the bandage for an extended period of time, so that the response can be observed.

The Draize test involves applying the substance being tested to the rabbits' eyes, causing great pain and often leading to swelling, wounds, bleeding and blindness. Public outrage has largely ended use of this testing method.

"The alternatives [to animal testing] in the area of cosmetics are the most well-developed," Lousky explains. "Many articles have been published and there are international conferences on the subject." Cell cultures can be used to test toxicity, while artificial corneas or bovine corneas taken from slaughterhouses can be used for the irritancy tests. "Comparison studies show that the results are quite similar to those obtained from tests involving live animals," Lousky said.