Having built up a career modelling in men’s magazines and TV appearances, Sheffield model Jessica-Jane Clement is now using her feminine wiles for a good cause.

Talent Management has just found out that the Northern beauty has modelled naked for PETA’s latest ad in a bid to help stop cosmetics tests on animals.

Jessica-Jane and her equally beautiful companion, Sammy the bunny, highlight the threat that the EU’s 2013 ban on the sale of all cosmetics tested on animals is currently facing.

So, what made the model decide to support PETA’s campaign? “Well, first of all, I am incredibly sentimental about animals and always have been. I grew up with dogs, cats, rabbits, guinea pigs, hamsters and fish, so animals have always been a big part of my life. Secondly, everyone knows that make-up is a huge passion of mine, and if I hadn’t fallen into acting and presenting, I was going to do make-up. This means that a lot of girls ask me daily about different cosmetics and which ones they should use, so I am in a powerful position, especially with social media. I have a lot of female fans who look up to me, and if you want to influence people, you must lead by example. I think doing this campaign will show people how important this ban is.”

If the ban does not go ahead as planned, companies which use rabbits like Sammy and thousands of rats, mice and guinea pigs in cruel and completely unnecessary experiments will continue to profit by selling their products in Europe.

Animal tests for cosmetics and their ingredients are illegal in the EU, but until the 2013 ban comes into effect, companies can continue to conduct animal tests outside the EU and sell their products here. Hundreds of compassionate and progressive companies avoid animal tests by using the thousands of safe cosmetics ingredients that have already been approved and are available to make fantastic products that are as kind to animals as they are to us. Scandalously, though, some in the cosmetics industry are putting pressure on the European Commission to postpone or compromise the ban.

Jessica-Jane explains in her own words why the sales ban is so important, and what actions she would advise her fans and the public to take to make sure that the EU does not delay the 2013 deadline: “Cosmetics are more popular now than ever before – not only with women, but men are now embracing their feminine side, which had seen a boom in the male grooming industry, and girls are starting to use make-up younger than ever before. With such a high demand for cosmetics and high-profile, celebrity-endorsed cosmetic companies advertising just about everywhere, it’s important to nip animal testing in the bud before the demand for animal-tested products gets out of hand. Please contact European Commissioner John Dalli to urge him to press ahead with plans for sales ban.”

Continuing, she outlines other animal issues aside from cosmetics testing that she feels are important: “I was watching an episode of Fashion Police (or as my mum calls it, “Bitches Bitching”) on the E! channel. They were talking about Rihanna, who wore a crocodile skin–style Tom Ford dress. None of them seemed that fazed by the fact that Rihanna was wearing a dead animal. Impressionable girls will now want similar dresses, so demand will go up, and companies will make them. I don’t think this is cool at all!”

If the lovely Jessica-Jane has convinced you to help, then you can find out more about the EU ban, the tests it will help stop and how you can support it, by visiting PETA.org.uk/2013.

And in the meantime, be aware that there are fantastic make-up companies that don’t test on animals, and you can find them by logging onto the Humane Cosmetics Standard list online at GoCrueltyFree.org.