Bill to Ban Some Tests on Rabbits Gains

Legislation to prohibit using live rabbits to test whether cosmetics or cleaning products will irritate human eyes or skin was approved Wednesday by the Senate Judiciary Committee.

“This bill simply bans a cruel and archaic test that often results in blindness or painful death for animals,” said Assemblyman Jack O’Connell (D-Carpinteria), the sponsor of the measure. A 7-3 vote sent the bill, which earlier passed the Assembly by a large margin, to the Appropriations Committee.

A representative from an animal-rights group testified that there are alternative tests available and emphasized that several major cosmetic manufacturers already voluntarily use them.

Holly Hazard of the Doris Day Animal League also charged that the rabbit test is sometimes “inaccurate” and a “smoke screen” to make products appear safe. “Consumers are being led to believe they are protected when, in fact, they are not,” Hazard told lawmakers.

Former U.S. Surgeon General C. Everett Koop, who strongly opposes the bill and similar legislation in other states, has defended animal testing as necessary for public health. “I care about animals,” he said recently in Washington, “but I care about people more.

“There is no substitute for animal testing if we are to ensure the safety of all consumer products, from personal care and household cleaning products to health care and prescription drugs,” Koop said.

Gene Livingston of the Cosmetic, Toiletry and Fragrance Assn. told the committee he opposes the legislation. “There is no expert medical testimony that the alternative tests are better than the rabbit test,” he said.

Spokesmen for the state Department of Health Services and for Procter & Gamble also opposed the bill at the hearing.

The measure would make it a misdemeanor punishable by a maximum fine of $2,000 for anyone using rabbits to test for irritants in cosmetics and cleaning agents. If passed and signed into law, it would become effective Jan. 1, 1994, to give companies adequate time to prepare for the ban.

The legislation would not apply to any test performed for the purpose of medical research, developing medications, medical devices, drugs, foods or industrial chemicals, or identifying environmental pollutants. Neither would it apply to weed, insect or rat poisons.

A similar bill passed both houses of the Legislature last year but former Gov. George Deukmejian vetoed it.

A spokesman for Gov. Pete Wilson said Wilson has taken no position on the bill.