Animal Testing
terribly early in the morning of October 28th, 2007| The National Institute of Health (NIH) announced a new standard for medical testing. Testing on rats will be terminated, and in the future live animal testing will be performed using lawyers.
The NIH presented the following explanation for its decision: Some lab assistants were becoming quite attached to their rats, and it was important to find an alternative which would not inspire emotional involvment. The population of attorneys grows at a faster rate than the population of rats.Lawyers contribute less to society, and thus are more expendable than rats. Animal rights societies do not oppose experimentation on lawyers. There are some things even a rat won’t do. The NIH is trying to resolve concerns raised by this change, that using lawyers for testing may render it more difficult to extrapolate test results to human beings. |
Cruelty Free Testing
What does it really mean? Can you trust a Company espousing itself to be against animal testing or is it clever marketing hype?
Here we take a look into the issue to help you better understand and make informed choices.
Did you know that there is no law requiring manufacturers of beauty products and household products to test their products on animals?
The use of animals and beauty products
In some countries animals are still being used to test beauty products but thankfully this is not allowed in Britain anymore.
A Company may not test its formulations or finished products on animals and may instead conduct “human clinical trials” but what about the raw materials that are sourced to make their products in the first place? What you really need to be asking them is whether their suppliers test on animals.
I am often asked what my stance on animal testing is. Obviously I am against it and I would never knowingly make dubious purchases but I am also fully aware that I need to be sourcing my ingredients from suppliers who will offer me an assurance that they don’t test on animals. As you can imagine, trust plays a large role in the scheme of things.
In certain cases it is simply unavoidable for example as in the case of essential oils. Testing for toxicity is done on animals or in cell cultures. Most of the testing was done in the early 1970s. However, animal testing of essential oils and their components still does happen, mainly in Universities. The toxicity of a few oils in humans has been documented from past cases of poisoning.
Ingredients
It is important to understand the ingredients in cosmetics as many of them can come from animals. In other cases, the same ingredient could be animal or plant based.
Common ones to watch out for are listed here, the Animal Ingredients List
At Elixir Body Care we have a full disclosure policy and clearly state the origin of an ingredient if there are alternate sources in our glossary. If you feel we have omitted information or you need further clarification, never hesitate to ask us, as your feedback and opinions are important to us.
