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Animal testing? Beauty Brains please help!
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This question is mostly directed at the cosmetic chemists here but of course i welcome all comments/advice.
For the past year i have decided to go cruelty free. And i mean i was going hardcore, i took every piece of loreal, maybelline, guerlain, shiesheo, etc etc and gave it away to my friends and pledged to never buy an animal tested product again. However over the past year i have hit an impasse with this decision.
And not because i stopped caring, i am still very against animal testing for the use of cosmetics. I mean its makeup for Christ's sake its not necessary to hurt an animal in order to make a better mascara. My problem is getting down to the bottom of these companies. I email companies constantly and research on the internet to try and get answers. If you email any company 9/10 will tell you they do not test. And you either have to take their word for it (could they be lying) or be cynical and decode their words to find ingredients have been tested or testing has been outsourced to another company so said company can keep their name clean.
Then you go on the internet and information is divided some say a company does test and some say they do not.
For example it is widely accepted across the internet that NARS is not cruelty free, yet when i talked to a rep at Sephora she told me that while it's parent company Sheisido does test on animals, Francois Nars has kept all creative and executive control of the compnay, he is Vegan and very against animal testing, and never tests on animals and does not buy ingredients tested on animals and does not outsource, And she told me the common misconception with parent brands is that people think a parent brand supplies their companies with ingredients. While that may be true in some cases, in a case where an independent company was bought or sold, their business transactions can remain them same. (IE Nars does not get ingredients from Sheisedo, does not outsource testing to Sheisedo, but a percentage or profits does go to the parent compnay)
However if we were to go that route, Walmart is certainly not cruelty free, while Avalon Organics is. If i bought an Avalon Organics Shampoo, a percentage of the profit would go to WALMART for being a vendor. Yet Walmart has nothing to do with the product process of the company. Many companies work like this as well.
So my point? How the heck do i determine if a brand is "animal safe" or not? There are so many loopholes and contradictions, especially here on the internet where 99% of people have no proof or evidence of their claims. Who do i believe? I don't see PETA as a reliable source and many brands that are considered cruelty free don't sign up on THELEAPINGBUNNY because they simply do not want to fill out the paperwork of be affiliated which does not make the company a bad company. If you email a company do they have to tell you the truth?
I feel i can either say the heck with it and give up trying to find the truth or stop buying cosmetics all together.
I would love the opinion of someone in the cosmetic business or someone with some insight on this.
I would love to remain cruelty free and support something i believe in, but i feel like i will never know for sure.
Please help. -
I'm afraid my understanding (I'm not a cosmetic chemist) is that all ingredients are required to have (at some point) been tested for safety on animals. If I'm right, that means anyone who says they don't use products tested on animals is not telling the whole truth. They may stick to ingredients that have already been tested on animals at some point in the past--but that doesn't mean they were not tested on animals. See the following post by the brains:
http://thebeautybrains.com/2008/01/13/getting-rid-cosmetic-animal-testing-is-harder-than-some-have-suggested/
Also, you should note that this doesn't just apply to cosmetics, but drugs as well. There are a few ways you can go if the ethical issues (appropriately) bother you. 1) Don't use products, 2) Use products that don't contain novel ingredients, that way the animal testing won't have been done in the recent past and there will be no need for new testing, 3) Concern yourself with humane treatment of animals who are used in experiments; learn more about the conditions under which animals can be used in experiments with as little pain and stress as possible, and/or 4) Support and learn more about alternative methods that are being developed for safety testing that will allow testing to avoid use of animals in the future. -
I have heard the UK is banning animal testing for the use of cosmetics. I don't have a particular link for it. :( but PIXIWOO from youtube have talked about it (they are makeup artists in the UK) so is this not possible? I mean i understand that at some point every ingredient we deem safe must have been tested. But does that mean every new cosmetic that comes out has been recently tested? I just am not sure where to stand, should i still try to be cruelty free or is it sadly futile.
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I'm hoping the brains find time to respond to this question. I don't think every new cosmetic has been recently tested, as long as the ingredients are well-established as safe. But I could be mistaken. Wait and see if the brains respond. If not you may go here http://personalcaretruth.com/contact/submit-feedback/ and post your question as an "ask the experts" question. One of the brains is on the expert panel at personal care truth.
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The EU (and UK) has a law seeking to prohibit testing of cosmetics and ingredients on animals other
than willing humans..The law or Regulation will be fully in force some time around mid 2013 but a few
problems still need to be overcome. The Regulation covers cosmetic ingredients but not drug ingredients,
which can be tested under certain circumstances. Some of these drug ingredients are used in cosmetic preparations and would have to be left out to avoid breaking the Regulation. This problem is being discussed
now.
My understanding is that EU cosmetic products or products imported into EU cannot be tested on animals. Period.
Cosmetic product ingredients will also be covered soon and any animal testing in the past has to be before year 2000. If testing has taken place since that date, the producer must supply professionally validated reports explaining why.
Producers claiming "Not tested on animals" will have to specifically declare whether this is their product or the ingredients or both. This will have to be stated on the packaging or label. No more shilly shallying!
A way to discover if an ingredient has been animal tested is to surf the internet for ingredient Safety Data Sheets or Material Safety Data Sheets. These may give results of LD ( Lethal Dose) or Eye irritation ( Draze ) tests and you can investigate further from there.
I understand that in a few carefully controlled instances some animal testing may be necessary but the large scale torture and butchery of other animals by a so called intelligent species is inhumane and inhuman.
Strong words? Recently I watched a DVD documentary about some humans treatment of animals. The documentary is called "Earthlings" and if you watch it be prepared to be deeply shocked. -
The only reason there is a need to test a product on animals is because the product contains ingredients which are not good for humans. Most major beauty product manufacturers test their products on animals.
If the ingredients contained in the product were of no harm to humans then why would anybody have a need to test it on animals? Please note that most of the major brands and virtually all of the low cost, copy cat or off brand products never state that their product is not tested on animals. That is because many of their products contain ingredients that are irritants, dangerous and/or harmful. If there were no concerns, either short term or long term, than let their employees and their families test their products. Not only should the need for animal testing send up a red flag for the short term, but more importantly, if there is bad stuff in the product, what does it do in the long term? Remember, cigarettes do not give you cancer the first day you smoke, but they sure will harm you eventually. This is also true for many beauty products; they eventually are harmful to your skin and can affect your body's organs. Be concerned about the products from any company that needs to test their products on animals.
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