Go Cruelty Free!

By Emma Love
First created 18 March 2009 | Last updated 06 February 2010

You’ve snapped up an organic fairtrade cotton tee, switched to free range chicken, buy dolphin-friendly tuna and you probably recycle magazines because you care about the planet and the wellbeing of its creatures. Your conscience is clear and you’ve done your bit. Your face glows with the satisfaction of knowing you’re at one with nature but is that same face made up with cruelty-free cosmetics? Fancy taking one more step towards guilt-free earth-hugging harmony?

The matter of animal testing for cosmetics seems to have been largely forgotten in recent years – it’s not particularly fashionable to question your pals about the sourcing of their make up like it was during the success of The Body Shop’s stores in the eighties when we couldn’t get through a birthday, Christmas or a Tuesday without being showered with peach bath pearls, white musk body spray or shea butter body scrub – blissfully aware of the cruelty-free status of these goodies.

Perhaps we think that the experiments we heard of back then have since been outlawed and everything we buy now is from a company that left behind animal testing with poll tax and shell suits. Sadly, although in the UK and the EU animal testing is now banned, it’s rife elsewhere and we’re still filling our baskets with mascara, lip gloss and bronzers from companies across the world who openly carried out painful tests on animals or use ingredients from suppliers who have done so. Dogs, rabbits, pigs, mice, rats, guinea-pigs fish and birds are all used in animal testing.

Surprisingly there are now over 8000 ingredients passed as safe and if we needed more, for testing new products, there are approved non-animal tests that can take place. You are making a choice each time you reach for that glitzy packaging; each time you see your favourite celeb gushing about a new miracle product. You’re making the decision to either give animal testing the thumbs up or not. By throwing your cash at forward-thinking, caring companies such as Hard Candy, Urban Decay and Marks & Spencer, you may start to dent the profits of the cosmetics giants who are laughing all the way to the bank with animal welfare as an afterthought.

GET THE GUIDE!
So what do you look for to ensure that your basket remains animal friendly? You can get your hands on a pocket-sized book for free from BUAV’s site, www.gocrueltyfree.org which lists the proud holders of the ‘leaping bunny’ logo – the most trusted stamp in confirming a company’s cruelty-free status. This Humane Cosmetics Standard was agreed and launched by a group of leading animal protection organisations in 1998. To reach this standard a company must prove what they claim. They must no longer conduct or commission animal testing for their products or ingredients and in some cases much apply a fixed cut off date after which none of its products or ingredients have been animal tested.

CELEB SUPPORT
Thankfully, celebrity supporters of the British Union for the Abolition of Vivisection (BUAV) such as easy-on-the-eye Mr Jude Law, Sir Paul McCartney and fashion icon Twiggy have helped to draw attention to the idea of going cruelty free. Ditching those uncaring profit-snatching companies and championing those that make the effort to protect our furry friends is very ‘now’ don’t you know.

SPREAD THE GOOD WORD!
Announce on Facebook that you’ve gone cruelty free and mention your fav’ brands so that come your next birthday or Christmas you’re more likely to be showered with guilt-free goodies. Email or text your friends and tell them to look at www.gocrueltyfree.org.

I’ve been plumping for cruelty-free for some time now and it’s easier than you think! Why not opt for a better blusher now and maybe the Easter bunny will deliver an extra treat for you this year?!