Animal testing for cosmetics is of course wrong, but let’s get our priorities right on cruelty and Brexit

There are more serious animal welfare problems, says John Rentoul. And they have nothing to do with EU rules

The government could do with a good news story about animal welfare to distract from outrage over the fate of Geronimo the alpaca (PA)

What is a right-thinking Independent reader supposed to make of this morning’s headline about animal testing? We report that the testing of cosmetics ingredients on animals, banned in Britain since 1998, could make a return after a Home Office decision to follow EU rules.

How can that be right? Even if you don’t agree with Brexit, shouldn’t our departure from the EU mean that we no longer have to follow EU rules if they involve cruelty to animals?

As you might imagine, the story is complicated. It turns out that the EU ban on animal testing for cosmetics, and on the sale of any cosmetics containing ingredients recently tested on animals, was not as absolute as it seemed. It conflicted with a different EU law about the safety of chemicals generally. That conflict was last year resolved by an EU decision requiring two chemicals used only in cosmetics to be tested on animals.