Cruel Cosmetics

I recently made the decision to go cruelty free with my cosmetics. This is everything I own and below is a breakdown of what I will be keeping and what I will be throwing away.

1. Herbal Essences

What they say - On the Herbal Essences website they state that "Herbal Essences products are not tested on animals. full stop. nor do we ask any supplier or contract lab to test them on our behalf" and then go on to talk about Proctor & Gamble's (P&G) funding of alternative research methods.

The truth - It seems to be well documented that P&G undertake animal testing of ingredients, some of which will be in Herbal Essences. See Hurtful Essences for campaigns and links to documentation.

The verdict - BIN

2. FCUK

What they say - On the CSR page for FCUK there is a brief statement right at the bottom saying "There are a number of other CR topics, such as business ethics, animal testing and use of chemicals, which are subject to set standards within the business."

The truth - In general a company will say anything to make themselves look better. FCUK can't find anything to say about animal testing. This makes me dubious. They also feature on pretty much every 'bad' list.

The verdict - BIN

3. Matey 

What they say - Owned by Unilever who say they do "not undertake animal testing, or commission others to do testing on its behalf, unless it is necessary to meet its health, safety and environmental obligations or it is demanded by government regulators or other official bodies."

The truth - So, they do test on animals when necessary? At least they're honest.

The verdict - BIN

4. Bomb Cosmetics

What they say - On their website's 'About Us' page the say "We operate a fixed cut off date of 31st December, 1995 for all of our ingredients and we will not test any of our finished products on animals."

The truth - well, that's good enough for me! A FCOD is an excellent policy to have, but I will keep my eyes open to see if they make it onto any BUAV or similar list.

The verdict - KEEP

5. Radox

What they say - Also owned by Unilever, see 3 above.

The truth - See 3 above.

The Verdict - BIN

6. Collection 2000

What they say - The parent company LF Beauty and any third party acting on its behalf has never and will never test their products on animals.

The truth - No mention of ingredients here which worries me and they aren't on any cruelty free lists.

The verdict - BIN

7. Veet

What they say - Owners Reckitt Benckiser say in their animal testing policy taht they "will not use animal testing on any of our products, or on any raw materials, unless..."

The truth - So, like Unilever above, they do test on animals.

The verdict - BIN

8. Emu Oil Well

What they say - OK, maybe we shouldn't talk about this one... Just read their website.

The truth - It isn't tested on animals. But it is made from them.

The verdict - BIN

9. Boots

What they say - Alliance Boots has a fairly thorough animal testing policy. They don't test on animals but they are "unable to guarantee that all raw material suppliers do not use or have not in the past used 

animal testing."

The truth - Unfortunately this means that ingredients in their own brand products may have been tested and without going through the huge list on each one it's hard to know what's safe.

The verdict - BIN

10. Aquafresh

What they say - owned by GlaxoSmithKline who, as you can imagine, have "animal research laboratories in Europe, Asia and North America".

The truth - Whilst most of this animal testing will be to do with medicines (something I am not wholly against, but let's save that moral hypocrisy for another post) another GSK document states that they will test cosmetics too.

The verdict - BIN

11. Johnson & Johnson

What they say - In a statement the company says "Judicious and ethical use of animal and in vitro (test tube) tests..."

The truth - The statement justifies animal testing by mentioning how they want to keep our babies safe. I wouldn't want any living thing to suffer in my child's name.

The verdict - BIN

12. Mitchum

What they say - Mitchum deodorant is a Revlon brand who say in their CSR document "no animal testing by Revlon or our suppliers".

The truth - There's a bit of a debate on Revlon. Whilst they say they are cruelty free they refuse to join the leaping bunny programme which raises some real doubts about their truthfulness.

The verdict - CONTACT

13. Vaseline

What they say - In their FAQ section Vaseline say "where required by regulators for safety reasons, we carry out limited tests..."

The truth - Like others they hide behind 'legal requirements' to justify testing on animals.

The verdict - BIN

14. Vanilla stuff

What they say - Well, I can't seem to find out who makes it!

The truth - If it's doubt you're in, chuck it in the...

The verdict - BIN

15. & 16. & 17. Gucci, Lacoste & Ghost Perfume

What they say - Made by P&G, see number 1 above.

The truth -  as for number 1.

The verdict - BIN, BIN, BIN

18. The Body Shop

What they say - The Body Shop has an impeccable record with its campaign against animal testing, until they were bought up by L'Oreal. It's hard to find a direct statement but there are some blogs who post replies from L'Oreal.

The truth - They test on animals, but are researching alternatives (just like everyone else!)

The verdict - BIN

19. Palm & Sole

What they say - All products are natural and hand-made. There is no cruelty-free statement on the website and a lot of the products contain beeswax.

The truth - There is a potential issue with beeswax as it is an animal by-product but I don't think that stops this being cruelty free.

The verdict - KEEP

20. Avon

What they say - Avon have been famously anti animal testing saying "Avon does not test products or ingredients on animals, nor do we request others to do so on our behalf" however you will see that is from a cached google page. Their current site makes no mention of animal testing.

The truth - Avon feature on every bad list because they buy and use products from companies which test on animals.

The verdict - BIN

So, there you have it. Just a couple of bits to keep hold of :(

Of course, I'd rather give it away than bin it, so if anyone would like any of these please let me know and I'm sure we can strike a deal.