Animal rights activists yesterday rallied in front of the Legislative Yuan building, urging lawmakers to pass laws to ban animal testing in the making of cosmetics products.
More than a dozen people wearing white T-shirts that read: “Beauty with Heart,” fake bunny ears and holding signs that read: “Say no to animal testing” or bearing pictures of white rabbits used in such animal testing marched to the Legislative Yuan’s front gate yesterday morning.
The organizers of the rally — animal rights group the Life Conservationist Association and an international cosmetics company, said yesterday marked the one-year anniversary since the European Commission announced a total ban on animal testing for cosmetics.
Photo: Liao Chen-huei, Taipei Times
The phasing out of animal testing for cosmetics in the EU began in 2003 with a ban on testing cosmetics products and cosmetics ingredients on animals. The EU later banned the sale of cosmetics products and ingredients that were tested on animals.
“Animal testing is only done because it is relatively cheap, but it limits the marketability of the products, because they cannot be sold to countries in the EU,” association member Tang Yi-jhih (湯宜之) said. “Taiwanese should learn from the EU’s example and refuse to use cosmetic products that were tested on animals.”
Taiwan Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals executive director Connie Chiang (姜怡如) said that many cosmetics sold by international brands have proved that thousands of ingredients are safe, and no longer require animal testing.
She said animal testing for cosmetics include applying the ingredients or products on the skin of rabbits after their fur has been shaved off, dripping the substances into rabbits’ eyes and observing their reactions and “lethal dose tests” that test the limit of the animals’ survivability after being exposed to different dosages of chemicals.
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Tien Chiu-chin (田秋堇) urged women in Taiwan to take a stand against animal testing by only using products that guaranteed they had not been tested on animals.
DPP Legislator Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) and Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators Ting Shou-chung (丁守中) and Apollo Chen (陳學聖) also appeared at the rally to show their support and urge the public to boycott all cosmetics that had been tested on animals.
Honor guards are to stop performing changing of the guard ceremonies around a statue of Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) to avoid “worshiping authoritarianism,” the Ministry of Culture said yesterday. The fate of the bronze statue has long been the subject of fierce and polarizing debate in Taiwan, which has transformed from an autocracy under Chiang into one of Asia’s most vibrant democracies. The changing of the guard each hour at the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall in Taipei is a major tourist attraction, but starting from 9am on Monday, the ceremony is to be moved outdoors to Democracy Boulevard, outside the eponymous blue-and-white memorial
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) supports peaceful unification with China, and President William Lai (賴清德) is “a bit naive” for being a “practical worker for Taiwanese independence,” former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) said in an interview published yesterday. Asked about whether the KMT is on the same page as the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) on the issue of Taiwanese independence or unification with China, Ma told the Malaysian Chinese-language newspaper Sin Chew Daily that they are not. While the KMT supports peaceful unification and is against unification by force, the DPP opposes unification as such and
The government would cancel kendo practitioner Su Yu-cheng’s (蘇郁程) nationality if he is confirmed to have represented China in the World Kendo Championships in Milan, Italy, last week, the Mainland Affairs Council said yesterday. “We have consulted the Sports Administration and were told that athletes participating in the championships must have the nationality of the country that they represent. They must also present their passports as proof,” council spokesperson Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) told a weekly news conference. “If Su indeed represented China in the championships, we suspect that he has obtained Chinese nationality.” The Act Governing Relations Between the People of the
FATAL ILLNESS: Untreated symptoms can rapidly worsen to complications such as high fever, seizures and loss of consciousness, and can be life-threatening, a doctor said Hospitals have been reporting dozens of people with heat-related illnesses every day over the past week, given continuous high daytime temperatures, so recognizing the early signs of heatstroke is crucial in preventing serious complications, a Taipei City Hospital emergency physician said. The Central Weather Administration yesterday issued a heat alert for 19 cities and counties across Taiwan, with temperatures in New Taipei City, Miaoli County and Pingtung County likely to exceed 38°C, and temperatures in 12 cities and counties likely to exceed 36°C for three days straight. More than a dozen people were taken to hospitals for heat-related illnesses every day from