Episode 04 - Cruelty-free
What is Cruelty-free?
At least 115 million animals are used in experiments worldwide every year. Cruelty-free means that the ingredients and final product have not been tested on animals. Cruelty-free does not mean vegan, and this is something that vegans often take issue with. So, it is possible for a cruelty-free product to contain non-vegan ingredients like beeswax, gelatin or collagen.
Cruelty-free does not necessarily mean that the product is ethically produced. For instance, British YouTuber Rowan Ellis drew attention to the lack of attention to human rights in cosmetics. She was criticizing a trend from 2016 called “how cruel is my makeup bag”, where YouTubers would essentially check whether their makeup products are cruelty free. Rowan made the point that cosmetics supply chains often are complicit in child labour, slavery/forced labour, and human trafficking.
What is Animal Testing?
Two animal tests used for cosmetic products are the Draize eye and skin irritancy tests. There was a really good description of these tests in an academic article by Delcianna Winders:
“The Draize eye irritancy test usually uses rabbits because they are docile, their eyes are much more sensitive than human eyes, and they are unable to tear, which can wash away the test substance. Typically, a young rabbit is tightly restrained in a box so that he is unable to move his neck or rub his eyes with his paws. Clips sometimes hold his eyelids open. Anesthesia is not generally administered. A researcher applies a concentrated substance to the outer layer of the eye – one of the most sensitive parts of the body – and observes it over a span of days or weeks for responses such as blindness, bleeding, hemorrhaging, and ulceration.
For the skin irritancy test, a researcher shaves and often abrades [scrapes] a rabbit’s skin. To abrade the skin, adhesive tape is repeatedly applied and ripped off until several layers of skin are exposed. The researcher then applies a highly concentrated test substance to the raw area over a period of days or weeks and observes it for corrosion, weeping, inflammation, and other forms of irritation. At the end of both tests, the rabbits are generally killed”
The animals most often used in cosmetics testing are rabbits, guinea pigs, mice, and rats. Dogs, cats, and non-human primates are used in medical research.
Animal testing has been in practice since the early 1920s. In 1938, the US Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act mandated animal testing to establish the safety of any new drug. The law was established after more than 100 people died from a poisonous drug called Elixir Sulfanoamide.
The cruelty-free movement was established in 1898, but it didn’t start to gain real momentum until 1980, when Revlon committed to stop using the Draize test. In 1996 animal protection groups formed the Coalition for Consumer Information on Cosmetics, which manages the Leaping Bunny certification program in the US and Canada. Since the 2000s, there have been successes in establishing cruelty-free laws. As well, consumers are increasingly demanding cruelty-free products.
Is Animal Testing Necessary?
Animal testing for cosmetics is often considered to be unnecessary, given that there are many ingredients which are known to be safe, as well as non-animal testing methods. There are more than 7,000 safe ingredients that cosmetics companies can choose from to formulate their products, and these don’t need to be tested at all. There are also alternative testing methods that make animal testing in cosmetics unnecessary. Also, animal toxicity tests are not really that accurate anyway. Kyla Found this neat article about using lab-grown skin to test instead, which is both awesome and super creepy.
The public is increasingly concerned about animal testing. More than half (52%) of Americans opposed animal testing, according to a Pew Research Center survey from 2018. Younger people oppose animal testing at higher rates (56%), as do women (62%). In contrast, only 40% of American men oppose animal testing.
Cruelty-free Laws
The EU animal testing Directive (2010/63/EC) specifies that companies must not test on animals if an alternative method is accepted under EU legislation. Cruelty-free laws are also in place in India, Vietnam, New Zealand, Israel, Norway, and Taiwan. The US and Canada don’t have laws like this, although there is a bill under consideration in Canada that would ban cosmetics testing on animals. There are also American state laws in California, New Jersey, and New York requiring that available non-animal safety tests be used before resorting to animal tests. China still requires animal tests for imports, which is a big barrier. If a brand is sold in mainland China it is not cruelty-free.
Cruelty-free Labels
These labels typically apply to cosmetics, personal-care products, and other common household products. The two strictest cruelty-free labels are the Leaping Bunny and PETA Cruelty-free labels.
The Leaping Bunny label, which is managed by the Coalition for Consumer Information on Cosmetics, has standards requiring: no animal testing and no ingredients tested on animals after a cut-off date. They have a supplier monitoring system to ensure suppliers are compliant
PETA’s Cruelty-free Label/ “Don’t Test” Lists certify that products and ingredients are not tested on animals. A company that claims not to test on animals but that doesn't appear on PETA's list may have eliminated tests on animals for finished products but not for ingredients (source).
Cruelty-free Mobile Applications
There are essentially three cruelty-free apps out there: Cruelty-Free (Leaping Bunny), Bunny Free (PETA), and Cruelty-Cutter (Beagle Freedom Project).
Cruelty-Free is the Leaping Bunny App. The reviews on this app are pretty negative, for functionality reasons and because the app leaves out companies that don’t test on animals. The app also, controversially, includes subsidiaries with parent companies that test on animals.
Bunny Free is an app that allows you to search companies to see whether they are on the “Do Test” or “Don’t Test” PETA lists. You can also browse companies by their cruelty-free status, as well as other options (e.g., vegan, working for regulatory change). The functionality on this app is a bit better, but it is still not great.
Cruelty-Cutter is an app that allows you to scan barcodes to determine the cruelty-free status of products. This app has the best functionality by far, according to reviews (and Kristen’s personal experience). The downside with this application is that it includes some cruelty-free companies that have not registered with PETA’s or Leaping Bunny’s list. Beagle Freedom Project “independently researches” companies and “requests statements”, but they aren’t a formal certification standard so they wouldn’t do independent audits or anything like that. The list seems reasonably reliable, though.