Wednesday, May 6, 2015

Cruelty-free Cosmetics


I will be adding to this post.

"The truth about animal research labels.", 2015, @thestarfishca
thestarfish.ca/home/2015/4/th
"these labels mean rather little, both in the U.S. and in Canada. Companies can say “Not Tested on Animals”, even if they actually do. There is no legal definition for animal research claims. Often, this means that the final cosmetic product is not tested on animals, but the individual ingredients are. Other types of labels ... have some meaning granted by a third party organization, but they do not guarantee that no animal testing was done in the creation of the hand soap, face wash, or body lotion."

"Questions and Answers: Animal testing and cosmetics", 2013, updated 2015, Europe

europa.eu/rapid/press-re
"With the full ban in place – can consumers be sure that cosmetics and cosmetic ingredients purchased in Europe were not subject to animal testing?
With the testing and marketing ban in force there can be no new animal testing for cosmetics purposes in the Union – be it for cosmetics products or ingredients thereof - and it is no longer possible to simply carry out testing for these purposes outside the Union and then use the data here to substantiate the safety of cosmetics. Consumers can therefore be sure that the cosmetic use of an ingredient in Europe cannot be the reason for any new animal testing.
However, the majority of ingredients that go into cosmetics are ingredients that are also in use in many other consumer and industrial products, such as in pharmaceuticals, detergents, food ... They may therefore be subject to animal testing requirements under these respective legal frameworks."
Translation - no guarantee. And Note: The ban only applies to new animal testing for cosmetics, not prior testing.