Timeline of Cruelty Free International

This is a timeline of Cruelty Free International, an animal protection and advocacy group that campaigns for the abolition of all animal experiments.

Big picture

Time period	Development summary
19th century	Experiments on animals becomes a major social justice issue in Europe and the United States.
20th century	By the turn of the century, CFI achieves widespread recognition as a professional pressure group with an established voice in the political arena, in both Britain and Europe.

Full timeline

Year	Month and date	Event type	Details
1863			Irish philanthropist Frances Power Cobbe comes into contact with the suffering of animals in experiments when travelling around Europe. Cobbe begins to write articles and speak at public meetings advocating for an end to the suffering of animals in cruel experiments.
1898	June 14		CFI is founded as the ‘British Union’ in Bristol by Irish philanthropist Frances Power Cobbe.
1904		Notable death	Frances Power Cobbe dies of heart failure at the age of 81.
1940			The British Union has at least 154 branches, including six in Australia and one in New Zealand.
1947			All organizations campaigning to end animal experiments suffer a severe blow when the British courts rule that they could no longer have charitable status.
1949			The British Union is renamed the British Union for the Abolition of Vivisection, to avoid confusion with similarly-named organizations.
1970			The Dr Hadwen Trust is founded by the union. It would become the leading non-animal medical research charity in the United Kingdom.
1991			The union launches the first ever in-depth investigation of the trade in monkeys for research, revealing the cruelties inherent in the trade in wild animals. This would result in country trade restrictions and government bans on the use of monkeys taken from the wild.
1996			The union launches the Leaping Bunny program, an internationally recognized no animal testing certification for cosmetics, personal care and household products. Symbolized by the Leaping Bunny logo, the program aims to turn shopping malls cruelty free with the certification of leading household names gaining Leaping Bunny certification.
2001			The union achieves a ban on the use of controversial LD50 oral toxicity tests in the United Kingdom, in which animals can be force fed chemicals until 50% of them die.
2014			The union wins the prestigious Sustainability Pioneer category of the Sustainable Beauty Awards, for its work to ban cruel cosmetics in Europe. The award requires evidence of a positive social, economic and environmental impact and a significant contribution to sustainable development in the beauty industry.
2014	March		Cruelty Free International welcomes in the United States the introduction of the Humane Cosmetics Act hosting the first congressional briefing on the bill. Lates, in June, the Humane Cosmetics Act returns with new bi-partisan leadership. The bill aims at phasing out animal testing for cosmetics in the United States within one year of enactment and prohibiting the sale of cosmetics tested on animals within three years of enactment.
2015			The British Union for the Abolition of Vivisection changes its name to Cruelty Free International to continue the work of our founders to end animal experiments worldwide.
2015	June		CFI provides guidance on a new bill introduced in Argentina intended to end the animal testing of cosmetics ingredients and prohibit the sale of new animal tested cosmetics in Argentina after a two year phase in.
2015			CFI is granted permission to take the Home Office to court. The group seeks to bring a judicial review against the government department for violating EU animal experiments regulations.

Meta information on the timeline

How the timeline was built

The initial version of the timeline was written by FIXME.

Funding information for this timeline is available.

Feedback and comments

Feedback for the timeline can be provided at the following places:

• FIXME