The defense of animal welfare and rights is gaining supporters every day and, therefore, there are more and more brands adopting Cruelty Free policies, or without animal cruelty.
What are cruelty free products?
Cruelty free products are products that are not, or use ingredients, tested on animals.
In addition to being the ethical and fair alternative, non-animal testing (such as computer-simulated analysis, tissue created in the laboratory from human cells, or human testing) is often cheaper and more effective!
However, there are still countries that require products to be tested on animals to be sold in their territory, as is the case in China. That is, there are many brands that do not test on animals in Europe but, in order to sell in China, authorize their products to be tested on animals in Chinese factories for this purpose. This causes the brand, despite opposing animal testing, to lose the right to the Cruelty Free title.
How to identify Cruelty Free products
To check if a product is 100% Cruelty Free, you can consult the websites of organizations such as Cruelty Free International or PETA, which provide a list of brands that undertake not to carry out tests on animals, by themselves or using third parties, nor buy from suppliers who do.
These companies are subject to rigorous auditing processes to verify that they comply with the required parameters and thus obtain the cruelty free designation.
The beauty sector and animal testing
To give some examples, in the cosmetics sector new Cruelty Free or even Vegan (cruelty free / vegan) products are emerging every day and the large multinationals are reinventing themselves to create environmentally friendly ranges. Dove, for example, is one of the giants in the cosmetics market that adhered to PETA's cruelty free seal. For its part, Garnier recently presented a bio line – based on organic products – and vegan, which is environmentally friendly. The brand announced that it has Ecocert Greenlife certification, which guarantees that the products do not have preservatives, silicones, chemicals and synthetic dyes.
The 2015 Eurobarometer study found that, at European level, around 59% of consumers admit to being willing to pay more for a product that has not been tested on animals or that takes into account animal welfare. A trend in full growth, as it is easy to see.