Knesset Committee approved a bill banning import of animal-tested cosmetics

The bill stipulates that any cosmetic products not directly associated with pharmaceuticals and detergents involving animal testing will be banned
 
The Knesset's Education, Culture and Sports Committee approved last week a bill prohibiting the import and marketing in Israel of animal-tested cosmetics and detergents.
 
The bill, which passed through its first reading, stipulates that any cosmetic products not directly associated with pharmaceuticals and detergents involving animal testing will be banned.
 
MK Michael Melchior, Chairman of the Knesset's Education, Culture and Sports Committee, said in a press release that the decision aligns Israeli law with that of the European Union, allowing for an adjustment period until 2009, when full enforcement of thelaw would begin.
 
He added that since this was not a matter of life and death "Jewish morals as well as common sense and social norms cannot abide animal testing, let alone for none-medicinal purposes."
 
Our correspondent learnt that as many as 115 million animals are experimented on and killed in laboratories in the world every year.