Getting Clean, Cruelty-free
... why a label of "no-animal testing" may not mean what it says...
Of all the areas o
f animal testing the tests used for cosmetics are the most controversial. So much so that it is banned in the Netherlands, Belgium, and the UK. By the end of 2009 the European Union will have almost completely banned any sale of cosmetic product that is related to animal testing. France has protested the ban, largely in part to the cosmetics company L'Oreal, along with The European Federation for Cosmetics Ingredients also opposes the ban (which is made up of 70 countries within Switzerland, Belgium, France, Germany and Italy). (wikipedia.com article on animal testing)
Most of the animals used in product testing are rodents, but some companies also use dogs, cats, sheep, hamsters, guinea pigs, monkeys etc. Because of the amount of controversy on the ethics of animal testing there are a lot of companies that say they are cruelty-free, when they are still testing on animals. This is mainly because certain governments are still requiring them to do so because of trading standards and consumer protection laws. While it is possible to meet these requirements without animal testing in some countries, the United States and Japan will often require testing in order to trade (although most recently the U.S. has been developing cell culture alternatives, to be used in replace of animals for cosmetic and other testings)
According to a current article in Wikipedia, "Cosmetics manufacturers who genuinely do not test on animals generally use the following for safety testing of their products:
-Reliance on existing natural or synthetic ingredients, compounds and substances, which have already been extensively tested on animals;
-Avoiding novel ingredients or combinations of ingredients that have not been fully tested and may not be safe;
-Testing on human volunteers/clinical trials. "
There are alternatives to testing on animals, and as vegans we believe that obstaining from purchasing certain products that DO these tests in order to let the companies and governments know that we do not condone this unethical, inhumane practice. We believe that if enough people do not buy these products, more money will go into alternatives, and less animals will die in order to make sure our shampoo and body wash is safe.
If you want to learn more about why Vegans believe animal testing to be inhumane visit the following link for Cosmetic Testing.
Some of the leading companies that have been confirmed to not test on animals include:
If you are wondering whether your favorite beauty product is cruelty free, look for the following logos on the bottle (The blue and black "hopping bunny" is the logo of U.S. and Canadian Coalition for 
Consumer Information on Cosmetics (CCIC) , and the bunny on the right is put onto European products who do not test on animals)
