In the news
13 May 2008
17 April 2008
The ugly face of the beauty industry: exposed
Research by the Dr Hadwen Trust provides a rare glimpse into the use of animals to test ingredients by some of the world’s biggest personal care & cosmetics giants. We look at L’Oreal, Procter & Gamble and Colgate Palmolive, producers of well-known brands such as Garnier, Pantene and Palmolive.
Although these companies make general statements that admit to animal testing, consumers very rarely get to learn about animal testing of specific ingredients by the company in question that then goes into the beauty products on our shop shelves. The Dr Hadwen Trust reveals the animal testing secret behind these household names by shining a spotlight on the use of animals to test cosmetics ingredients.
Companies often try to down-play their animal testing activities, but the Dr Hadwen Trust can reveal that animals continue to be used to test cosmetics ingredients. We believe that many companies will probably test on animals right up until a Europe-wide ban forces them to stop next year. Amendments to the European Cosmetics Directive (Directive 2003/15/EC) were adopted on 27 February 2003. As a result, next year, from 11th March 2009, animal testing for cosmetics within Europe will finally be banned1 .
L’Oreal and P&G often make bold statements about their funding of alternatives research, but after examining the figures, the Dr Hadwen Trust can reveal that in fact their funding records appear far less impressive than they would have consumers believe. We believe that L’Oreal and P&G both spend just a fraction on alternatives compared to their overall profits. Neither company has put verifiable figures into the public domain, however our estimations show that despite their immense capacity, they spend on average around 0.2% and 0.008% respectively of global sales on replacing animals in testing.
What You Can Do
1. Find out more – click here to download the Dr Hadwen Trust’s research in PDF and read our article in the Sunday Times.
2. Donate – become a part of the Dr Hadwen Trust’s mission to replace animal experiments, by making a donation towards our non-animal medical research
3. Boycott animal testing – check out the latest on animal testing by Procter & Gamble and get your copy of the Compassionate Shopping Guide from Uncaged campaigns.
1 A partial marketing ban also comes into force on the same date, although the total marketing ban will not be introduced until 11 March 2013 after which point companies will have to stop animal testing their ingredients anywhere in the world if they want to market them within the EU.
