I was given a great resource the other day from the Choose Cruelty Free (CCF) organisation: a copy of their latest booklet “being cruel is uncool”. I opened the book an almost vomited on the spot – true! The picture that made me feel so queasy was of an animal that had had been used to test eye cosmetics. I won’t describe the picture more than to say it was gruesome. Images of cruelty aside this booklet contains a product list of preferred vegan and cruelty free products in Australia.

It also outlines the common animal tests including the following:

  • Toxicity test – animals are fed substances until a predetermined percentage of them die. I couldn’t work out why these tests are done except if it were to extrapolate the data to humans to determine the potential toxicity in humans? Can anyone comment?
  • Draize Eye Test – this is where concentrated substances are applied to the eyes of test animals that are restrained and unanaesthetised.
  • Draize Patch Test – this is a big one in the cosmetic industry where test substances are applied to animal’s skin. Reactions include severe burns.

I strongly feel that cosmetic testing on animals is completely unnecessary when there are so many alternatives available. One of the things that appeals to me about using natural ingredients is that most of them have been used safely by humans for a very long time. This creates a history of safe use and so animal tests don’t even factor into the equation. Thank goodness.

The most interesting thing I noticed was that there are obviously many ingredients that are animal derivatives that are being used in some cosmetics that do have natural plant alternatives. A couple of examples I found:

  • Glycerine from animal fat which is a byproduct of soap manufacture. Before the development of syndet bars (petrochemical based soaps and detergents) most commercial soap was made from beef tallow which is essentially beef fat. Fortunately for us the Spanish had developed Castile soap a couple of hundred years ago and now we have the benefit of natural plant based soaps that are rich in vegetable glycerine.
  • Hyaluronic acid – this is an anti-aging hero ingredient that is easily sourced from vegetables such as mushrooms or potatoes. However, up until 5 years ago the most common source was rooster combs. I am really glad the humble potato is a source of this great skin nutrient.
  • Palm Oil – well this one comes from Palm Trees however the palm oil industry has a devastating effect on the fauna of the Asia Pacific, particularly wild Orangutan colonies.  Fortunately there are a number of sustainable alternatives including Australian palm oil plantations that are grown without rainforest destruction. These have to be certified to be given the sustainable label. Lavera is one company that uses certified sustainable palm oil. There are also great alternatives to palm oil including rice bran oil and grapeseed oil.

From my perspective, not all the brands included are natural or even organic but it does list many natural ranges and some that we sell. I must say at this point that brands that test cosmetics on animals are automatically excluded from the ranges that we retail. We don’t even consider them – ever. Nor do we have products that include animal parts that are extracted from animals such as placenta. We do however have products that contain beeswax, goat’s milk, propolis and carmine and I will note that those products wouldn’t be endorsed by CCF.

I would be interested to hear your thoughts on this topic.

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