Animal rights group PETA has urged India's health ministry to ban the marketing and sale of animal-tested cosmetics and household products.
A statement issued by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) said such a move would place India in line with the European Union, which has banned the sale of all animal-tested cosmetics, and Israel, which has banned the sale of all cosmetics and household products that are tested on animals.
"The testing standards for cosmetics and household products in India no longer include animal tests, so why should animal-tested cosmetics and household products be sold here?" asked PETA India science policy advisor Chaitanya Koduri.
"Consumers want to be confident that the products they are buying did not blind rabbits or poison mice," he said.
The statement added Bureau of Indian Standards committees that determine what tests are required for cosmetics and household products have removed animal tests from the relevant standards.
The Drugs Technical Advisory Board under the ministry of health and family welfare has also recommended that there should be a ban on the import of cosmetics tested on animals.
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Despite the availability of non-animal tests and ingredients that are known to be safe, many companies still choose to subject animals to painful experiments, the statement said.