Vegan and cruelty free makeup products use different labels and sometimes it can be a bit confusing. Will try to make this post as informative and clear as I can. These are the basics:
CRUELTY FREE
- No animal testing.
VEGAN
- No animal testing.
- Does not contain any animal ingredient.
None do animal testing, but vegan products don’t use any animal ingredients either. Animal ingredients can be beeswax, carmine, collagen, honey, milk, egg, keratin, lanolin, guanine (that’s where shimmer comes from!), squalane… PETA has an interesting list of animal ingredients, some are very disturbing like: “Ambergris: From whale intestines. Used as a fixative in making perfumes and as a flavoring in foods and beverages“. So even if you are against whaling maybe you are using a product that isn’t. Sickening isn’t it?
On a positive note, on March 2013, the European Union banned the sale of any cosmetics tested on animals. So any company will have to abandon animal testing for cosmetics that they want to sell in the EU. But there are also cruelty free brands owned by brands doing some kind of animal testing like:
L’Oreal: not cruelty free but owns brands who are like: NYX and Urban Decay.
Shiseido: not cruelty free but owns brands who are like: NARS and Bare Minerals.
Why? Well China requires animal testing for any beauty product sold there therefore brands in the Chinese market are tested in animals, so if a company sells their products in China they cannot be considered cruelty free. L’Oreal (as a few others) explains this point in its website: “L’Oréal no longer tests on animals any of its products or any of its ingredients, anywhere in the world. Nor does L’Oréal delegate this task to others. An exception could only be made if regulatory authorities demanded it for safety or regulatory purposes“.
They sell their products in China, but their sub-brand Urban Decay doesn’t (they wanted to, but media pressure made them step back). So should L’Oreal stop selling in China? Yes, it’s a wrong choice they make just for profit. But they have been openly blamed about it even there are thousands of brands that do animal testing everywhere in the world even when it’s not required!
Does this mean I’m fine with L’Oreal and their partial testing? No, but some people seem to think they are the evilest brand in the world and sadly they are not alone, CoverGirl, Mary Kay, Olay, Estee Lauder, Clinique, MAC, L’Occitane… and many others are also selling in China. Some organizations and brands are working with China to stop animal testing the Humane Society, Chinese scientists and some brands like Lush and L’Oreal are some of them.
Things are much worse is the US, there are plenty of alternatives there instead of animal testing, but companies simply won’t use them (hello Johnson & Johnson). That’s sad isn’t it? it is not required in the US, just a brand choice, and still most do.
Still today some people don’t understand, don’t see a problem or don’t care about animal testing, they just think brands have a bunch of rats or rabbits in cages and use make up on them. But that’s far from reality. I won’t use graphic images here because I don’t think they are needed to make a point (and you can find tons of disturbing ones just by doing a Google image search), we just need to look at this cute rabbit singing Culture Club and words will have enough shock factor.
When an animal testing brand claims something like “does not irritate eyes” how do they know? Usually by testing on animals’ corneas until they are burnt (Draize test). Same with skin irritation, animals are basically rubbed with chemicals after being shaved. Licked a bit of your lipstick? don’t worry a few guinea pigs, rabbits and mice have been force-fed that product to make sure you’ll be fine if you decide to eat it after purchasing it, useful isn’t’ it? And don’t worry some brands already did the lethal dose test (LD50) so they know how much makeup is needed to kill you (by eating yes, because that’s what we all do, don’t we?). Why don’t stop the force-feeding tests and call the Darwin Awards if ever a person dies by eating their make up?
When test is over the animal is killed usually by asphyxiation, neck-breaking, or decapitation.
WHAT LABELS TO LOOK FOR WHEN BUYING?
For cruelty free cosmetics there’s a bit of a controversy between PETA label and Leaping Bunny one. To be able to use those labels companies must:
LEAPING BUNNY
Provide proof that the don’t conduct animal testing and that their suppliers do not as well. Be open to regular on-site audits to ensure their no animal testing claim.
PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals)
Complete a questionnaire and sign a statement verifying that they don’t conduct, commission, or pay for tests on animals for ingredients, formulations, or finished products and that they pledge not to do so in the future. PETA has also a vegan label: “Cruelty-Free and Vegan”.
That’s why you will see some brands in PETA’s list of cruelty free that you won’t find on Leaping Bunny’s list. The main different between both is that PETA is a single organization and Leaping Bunny is a group of 8 animal rights organizations in North America and Europe.
PETA’s list has been controversial in different occasions, Suzi from the amazing Cruelty Free Kitty blog emailed one of the listed brands and this was their answer:
“1) We do not require our suppliers to test their ingredients on animals, however, they might have need to be tested for some other non-cosmetic use.
2) Even though ingredients used on cosmetics are not required to be tested on animals when the finished product is sold in the US or the EU, there may be other countries that do require such testing, and we can’t control that“.
Well in fact yes they can! They can choose not to sell there… So that makes many of those supposedly cruelty free brands as cruelty free as Shiseido, L’Oreal and the others selling in the Chinese market.
Some brands claim to be cruelty without labels, it doesn’t mean they are lying, but it’s a red flag that no organization supports them. If you want to be part of the cruelty free movement, and you are not sure about a brand you are using you can just email them and ask, many people do that, don’t worry they are used to it. Some brands will give you an open honest answer, others will try to confuse you. If they are cruelty free they will be happy to reply, if they are not you will make them realize people care about animals rights! By the way, some cruelty free brands feature the labels on their sites but not on their products.
Vegan cosmetics have a few labels too. Labels can change depending on the country or organization, so do your homework and research the ones you see more often in your store. You can just start now by checking your cosmetics.
VEGAN LABELS
Products contain no animal ingredients or by-products, use no animal ingredients or by-products in the manufacturing process, and don’t test on animals by any company or independent contractor.
Someone in Tumblr did a great effort and asked brands one by one about animal testing, you can read the list and results.
But beware some ‘vegan’ brands also have non vegan products, like Lush using honey, milk, lanolin and eggs in some of their products. They are clear about it if you ask them or check the labels.
SOURCES AND FURTHER READING:
Humane Society
Greener Choices
Gentle World
One Green Planet
Cruelty Free Kitty
[Image by Teighe Thorsen]
