Animal Testing

About a year ago I was blissfully unaware of the horrible cruelty that goes on behind the glamorous fronts of so many major beauty companies. I don't remember how, but I found a link to a site that talked about the unpleasant facts of animal testing. I always thought animal testing including nothing more then funny people in lab coats sitting around putting nail polish on dog's toe nails or putting mousse in cat hair. Boy was I wrong.

Much of animal testing includes this:

• Putting harmful products in their eyes. Clamps are used so they can't blink. They'll be left like this for days. This is very painful and often leaves animals blind.
• Ripping away layers of skin with tape, and then putting chemicals on the raw skin.
• Forcing poisonous chemicals into their stomachs. Reactions can be convulsions, vomiting, paralysis and bleeding from the eyes, nose, mouth or rectum.

If the animal makes a lot of noise, they will cut their vocal cords. Test subjects sometimes kill themselves struggling against their restraints. If they haven't been killed in the testing process, the animals are killed after so their organs can be studied.

Here are a few of the majoy companies and their brands that do test on animals:

• Church & Dwight (Aim, Arm & Hammer, Arrid, Brillo, Close-up, Lady’s Choice, Mentadent, Nair, Pearl Drops)
• Clairol (Aussie, Daily Defense, Herbal Essences, Infusium 23, Procter & Gamble)
• Coty (Adidas, Davidoff, Glow, The Healing Garden, JOOP!, Jovan, Kenneth Cole, Lancaster, Marc Jacob, Rimmel, Stetson)
• Johnson & Johnson (Aveeno, Clean & Clear, Listerine, Lubriderm, Neutrogena, Rembrandt, ROC),
• L’Oréal U.S.A. (Biotherm, Cacharel, Garnier, Giorgio Armani, Helena Rubinstein, Lancôme, Matrix Essentials, Maybelline, Ralph Lauren Fragrances, Redken, Soft Sheen, Vichy)
• Playtex Products (Baby Magic, Banana Boat, Ogilvie)
• Procter & Gamble Co. (Clairol, Cover Girl, Crest, Gillette, Giorgio, Iams, Max Factor, Pantene, Physique, Tide),
• Sally Hansen
• S.C. Johnson (Drano, Edge, Fantastik, Glade, OFF!, Oust, Pledge, Scrubbing Bubbles, Shout, Skintimate, Windex, Ziploc), 1525
• Unilever (Axe, Dove, Helene Curtis, Lever Bros., Suave
• The Body Shop (just bought by L'Oreal)
• NARS (just bought by Shiseido)

Here are some of the brands that do not test on animals:

• Alba Botanica, Alima Cosmetics, Almay, Aquaphor, Avon (mark)
• Ban, Bare Escentuals, Bath & Body Works, BeneFit (?), Bobbi Brown, Bonne Bell, Biore, Burt’s Bees
• Citré Shine, Chanel, Clarins, Clinique, Conair
• e.l.f. Cosmetics, Estée Lauder
• Got2Be
• Jane Cosmetics, John Paul Mitchell
• Kiss My Face
• Laura Mercier, Lorac, LUSH
• M.A.C. Cosmetics, Mary Kay
• Nexxus, Nivea, NYX Cosmetics, New York Color (NYC)
• OPI Products, Origins
• Palmers, Physicians Formula, Pout, Prescriptives, Prestige Cosmetics
• Queen Helene
• Revlon
• Sephora, Smashbox Cosmetics, Sonia Kashuk, Stila Cosmetics, St Ives, Sally Hansen
• Too Faced Cosmetics, TREsemme
• Urban Decay
• Victoria’s Secret
• Wet n Wild

For more detailed list see here:

Companies that don't test: http://www.caringconsumer.com/pdfs/companiesDontTest.pdf

Companies that do test:http://www.caringconsumer.com/pdfs/companiesDoTest.pdf

Resources:

• http://www.idausa.org/facts/costesting.html
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Animal_testing (I couldn't get through the page, it really upset me)
• http://www.caringconsumer.com/
• http://www.navs.org/site/PageServer?pagename=ain_pt_whois This has a really helpful search engine, just type in the brand and it will tell you if they test.

If you see anything that is incorrect or know something that should be added, please let me know. I hope this is helpful to someone. I'm going on almost a year of buying only cruelty free products. On some things I slip up (like dental care, almost all major brands test) but at least I'm trying.

xox