Ban on cosmetics testing boosts animal welfare in India

In India, the animal lover's lot is not a happy one.

It may be home to more vegetarians than any other country, but it is also home to pack animals that are worked till they drop, emaciated cows foraging for food and countless stray dogs.

But the animal rights movement is celebrating what it hopes is a shift in Indian attitudes, most recently exemplified in a ban on the testing of cosmetics on animals introduced by the government last week.

Last year, high-profile animal rights activist, Maneka Gandhi, helped persuade the courts that it should not be an offence for people to feed stray dogs.

"As people learn about what happens in meat and leather production, they are choosing to lead a compassionate lifestyle," said Bhuvaneshwari Gupta, campaigns and nutrition adviser for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (Peta) India. "As Paul McCartney once said, 'if slaughterhouses had glass walls, everyone would be a vegetarian'."

India's drug controller general, Dr G.N. Singh, who announced the ban on animal testing for cosmetics, said that in doing so "for the first time, the Indian government has made a commitment to the welfare of animals".